A convicted paedophile had to be escorted from a courtroom for his own safety yesterday, when the father of his young victim tried to attack him. Kathryn Hayesreports.
Repeat sex offender Anthony "Tony" Keogh, Moyross, Limerick, was jailed for three years at Limerick Circuit Court, where he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault on an eight-year-old girl over a two-year period on dates between January 1st, 2005, and October 30th, 2006.
As the sentence was being announced yesterday, the victim's grandfather rose in the court and shouted at Judge Carroll Moran: "Do you call that justice for my granddaughter? Three years?"
Seconds later the child's father leapt from his seat in the public gallery and charged towards Keogh, who was in the dock.
Three gardaí and a prison officer restrained the distraught father, who was highly agitated, while Keogh was quickly escorted from the courtroom.
Afterwards, the victim's mother apologised to Judge Moran who accepted the apology. "I understand the passion behind what has just taken place and I'll let it be. I'm sitting as a sentencing judge - I have to do justice to the victim, to the family, to society and to the accused," he said. "I am not here to act as a brutal avenging angel, to lash out vengeance on the accused person - I have to balance a number of factors," he added. Judge Moran said it was accepted by the State that the abuse of the eight-year-old girl in the most recent case was at the lower end of the scale, given that the accused had never touched her under her clothes. He added, however, that the indecent exposure, the inappropriate language and the use of recording equipment by Keogh exacerbated matters as it may have resulted in the corruption of a young girl.
The judge imposed a six-year sentence on all of the charges but suspended the last three years. He was put on the Register of Sex Offenders for Life.
Earlier, the victim's mother was forced to leave the courtroom when she broke down while listening to medical evidence in which Mr Keogh was described as somebody who viewed sexual fantasies as a way of escaping emotional distress.
Dr Davina Walsh, senior clinical psychologist at the Granada Institute in Dublin, where Keogh has been undergoing treatment, said the 46-year-old felt inadequate, particularly in relation to adult woman and that he took "refuge in children".
Last month the court heard vivid accounts of the sexual assaults committed by Keogh over a two-year period on the girl, whom he used to babysit with his girlfriend.
Evidence was given of how he used to touch the child's private parts inappropriately and expose himself to her on other occasions while driving her to school.
The 46-year-old, who was a family friend of the victim, had also hidden a video camera in his house and once tried to tape the girl changing into a swimsuit. She was also shown images of the accused on his mobile phone in a state of undress, the court heard.
The child's mother was alerted to the abuse after noticing the words "I hate Tony" written backwards in her diary.
The mother told the court her daughter was still in counselling, and then had become over-emotional and was removed.
Following his arrest Keogh admitted to gardaí that he was a paedophile and that he had feelings for young girls.
The court heard that he first presented himself at the Granada Institute for treatment in 1997 after he was given a two-year suspended sentence at Limerick District Court for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. The court also heard that in 1989 Keogh was given the Probation Act after he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a young neighbour.