A 40-year-old woman was convicted at Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court yesterday of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl.
Two sexual assaults occurred while the woman was baby-sitting the girl and her brother.
Mr John O'Kelly SC said his client was brutalised by a vicious man in her first marriage and was a very immature person.
At an earlier court hearing, Ethel Johnston, whose address was Golf Links Road, Kilkenny, at the time of her arrest, had pleaded guilty to sexual assaults between November 10th, 1999 and January 1st, 2000. The case had been adjourned for the preparation of a psychiatric report.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, Mr Stephen Lanigan O'Keeffe, prosecuting, said the case was most unusual in that it involved sexual assaults by a woman on a young girl. Johnston was minding the child and sexual contact was made before they went to bed, he said. The contacts got more serious later, in the bed they were sharing.
In a statement, the victim said her father got her a video before going out. They were watching it in the sitting room and having a good time, "like a circus". Ethel then touched her private parts outside her clothes.
Later, in bed, Ethel touched her and she did the same to her. Ethel was lying on top of her and they were kissing. She went asleep and the following morning there was no touching. The victim said it wasn't nice for Ethel to do what she did and she told her mammy and daddy.
In a statement to gardaí, Johnston said that in bed, she and the girl were talking about sex and she asked the girl if she wanted to know about getting aroused. That was when the touching started. She denied getting on top of the girl.
Sgt Michael Quinlan said Johnston had had a very hard life. She said that what she had done was wrong and she was sorry.
Mr O'Kelly said his client had now married for the second time.
Her first marriage was extremely difficult. Her husband was a member of the Travelling community and beat her regularly. She lived in a state of fear.
She had nine children. A psychological test showed that she had a very inadequate personality.
Johnston was born in London but returned to Ireland with her mother and never did any examinations. She had her first child at the age of 17 and for the next number of years had been brutalised by a drunken, vicious man. She wasn't able to keep the family together.
Later, she got a job in a hotel as part of the kitchen staff and then as a porter in another hotel, where she met her present husband. Her life had taken a very positive turn since then.
Mr O'Kelly suggested Johnston behaved in an extremely immature way with a young child. She didn't appear to recognise the consequences of her behaviour, but regretted it. She fell into the category of being mildly mentally handicapped.
He did not feel that she had any paedophile orientation and he did not think there was a danger to any other children. He thought she would benefit from support.
"She has had a dreadful life," he said. "What happened was a once-off. She said she had never had any attraction to children in this way, before or afterwards."
Judge Peter Smithwick told Johnston that what she did was totally wrong. He was glad she recognised that and had pleaded guilty. He didn't think that she should serve a custodial sentence. He placed her under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months and bound her to the peace on her own bond of €500.
He made it a condition of the bond that she undertake any counselling or other treatment recommended by the Probation Service.
Judge Smithwick said he was impressed that the little girl was comfortable enough to tell her parents. Otherwise the abuse might have continued. He hoped the girl would be able to recover fully.