Jailed sex offender Bill Kenneally to be called before commission of investigation

Jailed sex offender Bill Kenneally will be called to give evidence before a commission examining the response of State and other agencies to allegations of his abuse.

Retired High Court judge Michael White, chair of the commission, confirmed the intention on Tuesday when asked by counsel for some of Kenneally’s victims.

Kenneally (72), a former sports coach and accountant, of Laragh, Summerville Road, Waterford, is serving prison sentences totalling more than 18 years for abusing 15 boys on dates between 1979 and 1990.

Some survivors have alleged there was collusion between An Garda Síochána, the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, the former South-Eastern Health Board, Basketball Ireland and unnamed political figures which prevented Kenneally, convicted in 2016, being arrested and charged years earlier.

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Jason Clancy filed a complaint in 2012 about being abused as a teenager by Kenneally on dates between 1984 to 1988. In February 2016, after Kenneally pleaded guilty to 10 sample charges of sexually abusing 10 teenage boys between 1984 and 1987, he was jailed for 14 years and two months.

During the case, it emerged that two senior gardaí in Waterford were informed in 1987 that Kenneally had abused another boy but no formal complaint was made at that stage.

The State-established commission of investigation began work in late 2018 under Mr Justice Barry Hickson, who retired and was replaced in late 2019 by Mr Justice White.

After more charges were brought in 2019 against Kenneally, he pleaded guilty on the sixth day of his trial last May to 13 sample charges in relation to 266 alleged offences involving five boys in locations in Waterford, Cork and Kilkenny between 1978 and 1993. He was jailed for 4½ years to run consecutive to his 14-year term.

Until this week, the commission conducted hearings in private because vulnerable witnesses were involved and in order not to prejudice the criminal proceedings against Kenneally.

[ Man abused by Bill Kenneally regarded his family as ‘big powerhouse’ in Waterford ]

Southern Correspondent for The Irish Times, Barry Roche, broke the story in an article published on April 23rd, 2013, under the headline: “Waterford sports coach accused of sex abuse.”

In evidence, Mr Roche said the article – which did not name Kenneally – was based on what he was told the previous month by a man who said he was abused by the coach as a young boy. The article, and his notes of what the complainant told him, were accurate, he told Ercus Stewart SC for the commission.

His notes recorded that the complainant had said, inter alia, that he was 13 going on 14 when the abuse started in 1984 and that Kenneally had a “gearbag” with handcuffs and chicken wire inside.

The notes referred to the man saying gardaí were understaffed. The man had described Kenneally driving by him and a friend when they were children and shouting at his friend, “Look at him, dirty thing,” which the complainant took to mean either his friend had been abused or knew someone who was abused.

The notes referred to the man saying he could not just “stand by” when Kenneally was still involved with a basketball club.

Mr Justice White said senior gardaí who have given evidence to the commission in private had strongly denied claims that members of the force leaked matters to the media.

When he asked Mr Roche whether he had spoken with gardaí before meeting the complainant on March 12th, 2013, Mr Roche said, while respecting the work of the commission, he could not answer on grounds of the confidentiality of journalists sources. The judge said he would not press the matter.

In her evidence, Saoirse McGarrigle said she was working in 2016/17 as a reporter with the Irish Mirror and wrote up to 30 articles relating to Kenneally after his 2016 conviction. She had spoken with survivors, including Kevin Keating, who, in 2018, received his files from Tusla, including a medical report dated 1989.

In that, a paediatrician reported seeing Mr Keating, then aged 14, between October 22nd, 1987 and summer 1988, when he outlined he was abused after being brought into a house and tied up. The report stated that he said other boys were abused, had referred to money changing hands in some cases and to threats of violence, including being killed or hurt, if the abuse was disclosed.

Ms McGarrigle said Mr Keating was really upset when he read the report because it showed he, as a boy, had told a doctor what was happening. He regarded the report as “written proof” in 1989 and was annoyed Kenneally’s name was redacted in it as his abuser.