A FORMER Bus Éireann driver has been jailed for 18 months for having sex with a 16-year-old schoolgirl on a bus.
Anthony Cheasty (49), Marymount, Ferrybank, Waterford, has also been added to the sex offenders’ register for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to three counts of defilement of a minor under the age of 17 in 2008.
Judge Gerard Griffin imposed a three-year sentence for each charge, to run concurrently, and suspended the final 18 months of the sentence, stating that Cheasty had “exploited the victim’s youth and innocence for his own sexual gratification”.
The incidents occurred on three dates in 2008 in three different locations in Co Waterford. At the time the accused was driving a bus which the victim would have taken to school.
Waterford Circuit Court heard that the victim developed a crush on Cheasty. She made contact with him using a note, which said she fancied him. She also made reference to their age differences in the note and said it would be illegal.
They exchanged explicit texts and photographs, and subsequently engaged in sexual intercourse on the bus on three occasions. It was only when a note was discovered by her brother and guardian that the incidents came to the notice of gardaí.
Cheasty, who worked as a bus driver for 15 years, resigned from his job in 2011 as a result of the incidents, and was said to have been ostracised in his community and had lost friends as a result of his actions.
The judge accepted that the victim made the first contact with him, but said he could have known her age as her date of birth was on her bus pass.
In assessing the gravity of the offences, he said they were at the upper end of the scale, but he accepted that there was no element of force or intimidation on the part of Cheasty, and said there was no evidence to suggest he was involved in grooming-type behaviour.
The court was told that the victim, who has moved away from the county, has trouble sleeping and has frequent nightmares. She was afraid to go out and was wary of other men.
The court heard that she was given €5,000 from Cheasty through the Garda Síochánaas compensation, which was accepted. She did not appear in court and now wanted to put the matter behind her and move on.
Cheasty was once a master blower in Waterford Crystal, and in the 1990s he pursued a driving career.
On Tuesday last, when he appeared in court prior to sentence being handed down, he apologised to his victim and her family for the stress and trauma caused by his actions.
Defence counsel Frank Quirke said his client had been a valuable member of the community who was a member of the CIÉ union and had been involved in volunteer charity work for Chernobyl. He had since completed a number of Fás courses, and was trying to put his life back together.
The probation report, which was handed in to the court, detailed that he was at a low risk of reoffending and that he felt a great deal of guilt and shame over the incident.
Following the sentencing, Cheasty signed a bond to be of good behaviour for a period of five years, and was led from the courthouse by member of the Garda.