A former primary school principal has been jailed for four years for indecently assaulting a 10-year-old pupil in the girls' toilet of a west Dublin school over 20 years ago.
The 46-year-old man, a native of Co Limerick, is already serving a four-year sentence for similar offences in relation to another girl in the school at that time.
Mr Justice Finnegan agreed that the identity of the man should not be published for legal reasons.
He noted that while the defendant had resigned from the school following complaints by parents, the school authorities had just accepted his resignation and had done nothing to alert other schools.
"That may well have been satisfactory in the attitudes of the 1980s, but I think it is something the school should examine itself about and make sure it does not happen again," he said.
Mr Justice Finnegan said the defendant had abused his position of authority and parental trust to exploit a weak and defenceless victim. It was to the victim's credit that she had coped well with the abuse but she felt she was overprotective of her young family and was always on the lookout for possible occasions of abuse. He took it as a mitigating factor that she had responded well.
He noted the accused was already serving a sentence for abusing another girl in the same school.
He said he also took into consideration the matters raised by Mr Peter Finlay SC, defending, and that his chances of future employment as a teacher were probably nil. He suspended the final year of sentence on condition that the defendant keep the peace for five years from his release.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court took just over four hours to find him guilty on five charges of indecent assault after a 10-day trial in June.
The jury found him not guilty on eight charges, including one each of rape and unlawful carnal knowledge and six of indecent assault, during the period December 1979 to May 1981.
The woman, now 30, said she was in fifth class when the defendant began sexually assaulting her in a cubicle in the girls' toilets. She said she always feared him.