A former prison governor who indecently assaulted a young girl who lived in his neighbourhood over a seven-year period has been jailed for three years by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Pat Carolan (73), a father of four, of Kinvara Road, Cabra, who was a governor of the Mountjoy Prison Training Unit and St Patrick's Institution, pleaded guilty to 28 charges of indecently assaulting the girl from when she was aged about five until she was about 13.
The offences occurred on dates unknown between June 1982 and June 1989. Judge Hogan suspended the final two years and said he accepted a sum of €20,000 handed over by Carolan to his victim as a sign of his contrition.
Ms Pauline Walley, prosecuting, told Judge Hogan the victim, now 27, wanted Carolan named in media reports of the case.
Det Garda Andy Tuite said the abuse continued at least once a week every weekend from the time the victim was aged five until she was seven. The victim couldn't say how many times it had occurred but thought it must have been hundreds. From the age of eight to 13, the victim said, the abuse occurred at around tea-time.
The victim told the court a year after reporting the abuse that she had felt suicidal and couldn't function or do anything without crying.
She said: "I can't even remember how bad it was, it was that bad." She added: "I wouldn't credit anyone with ruining my life but he has damaged it."
Mr Breffni Gordon, defending, said Carolan had provided unblemished service to the prison system where he worked for 37 years and would be ostracised from a society that might once have respected him. He would find it impossible to serve a prison sentence, he said.
Judge Hogan said he took into account several mitigating factors, including Carolan's guilty plea and his expression of remorse.
However, the offences were carried out over an extended period on a victim who was young, vulnerable and trusting.
The judge said Carolan had been in a job where he should have known the consequences of his actions. From his reading of the probation and welfare report, he wondered if Carolan realised the full import of the consequences of his actions.
Suspending the final two years of the three-year sentence, Judge Hogan said he would have imposed a longer term had Carolan been a younger man.