Courts

Soccer coach found guilty of defiling teenage player nearly 15 years ago

Dublin man (61), who was found not guilty by jury of two rape charges, to be sentenced in November

The prosecution said the man worked as a soccer coach in the girl’s school and took the girl’s phone number to contact her about sports matters, but over time the texts became 'more personal'. Photograph: iStock
Eimear Dodd
Tue Jul 23 2024 - 18:05

A school soccer coach has been found guilty of engaging in sexual acts with a teenage girl nearly 15 years ago.

The 61-year-old Dublin man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 30 counts of sexual assault, four counts of defilement, one count of rape and one count of anal rape on dates between September 2007 and February 2010.

The complainant in the case was aged between 15 and 18 at the time of the alleged offending, while the accused was aged between 45 and 47.

The jury on Tuesday returned unanimous guilty verdicts in relation to the four counts of defilement, which occurred on dates between August 2008 and January 2009 when the complainant was 16.

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The jury found the man not guilty of the rape charges. He had been found not guilty of the 30 counts of sexual assault by direction of the trial judge. The jury deliberated for just under five hours before returning its verdicts. Ms Justice Eileen Creedon remanded the man in custody for sentencing on November 4th next.

In her opening address, prosecuting counsel Fiona Murphy said the accused worked as a soccer coach in the girl’s school and became her team’s coach. She said the man took the girl’s phone number to contact her about sports matters, but over time the texts became “more personal”.

It was the State’s case that the coach became “a big feature in her life” and started collecting her at night and driving her around, which progressed to sexual activity. The jury was told the issue of consent does not arise in relation to the charges of defilement as it is an offence to engage in sexual intercourse with a person under 17.

In her direct evidence, the complainant said the coach’s texts were initially soccer-related but he later started to call her and they would regularly chat about their lives.

She said the man started to bring her and some of the team home after training but she was always the last to be dropped off. She said she started to go for drives with him around the winter of 2007/2008 when she was in fourth year. She said she told him his face was handsome on one occasion and he said he was flattered and had feelings for her.

She said their phone calls became more sexually explicit. She said she did not like the language he used, describing some of it as “kind of disturbing”, but the sexually explicit conversations continued on their drives. She said she sometimes felt excited because she liked him, but felt nervous and overwhelmed at other times.

She said the man pulled the car into a laneway on one occasion and they kissed for the first time. After this, she said, sexual touching began. She said the man started to talk about having sex and she agreed to do this in June 2008. She said they first had sex on the back seat of his car and that she was terrified and asked him to stop.

She said they had sex in the car at the same location on two other occasions and also in an industrial estate. She said they started to go to rented accommodation for sex from October 2009, where she alleged he raped her on two separate occasions.

In cross-examination, John Fitzgerald SC, defending, said his client denies ever bringing the complainant on drives or having any sexual conversations when she was 16. The complainant said this statement was “not true’.

Mr Fitzgerald also put it to her that his client said a relationship started in late 2010, when she was 18 and in college, which lasted for six months. The complainant denied this.