Trial told of sex abuse

A DUBLIN man has gone on trial before a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court charged with sexually assaulting a youth while …

A DUBLIN man has gone on trial before a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court charged with sexually assaulting a youth while he was renting a holiday home in Connemara during the 1990s.

The man (42), who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces seven sample charges of sexual assault between January 1998 and December 1999 at the boy’s home.

Conor Fahy, prosecuting, told the jury that the boy was 10 when the abuse started. He and his parents lived just over 200 metres from the holiday home. The man often returned to their home for a drink after nights out with them and would go to the boy’s bedroom to abuse him while the parents remained in the livingroom.

The now 23-year-old man told the jury the abuse occurred two to three times each time the accused came to stay at the holiday home, which was every bank holiday, summer and Christmas.