People who sexually abuse children must not be allowed to hide behind positions of authority in society, and victims must see that justice is applied, a serving garda who was abused as a child by a Garda sergeant said yesterday.
Michael Doherty (68), a retired Garda sergeant and father of six grown-up children from Swinford, Co Mayo, was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison after pleading guilty at Sligo Circuit Court to four specimen charges of buggery and indecent assault. The abuse took place between 1972 and 1976 in the village of Aclare near the Sligo-Mayo border.
The victim, Garda Joseph Sheerin, who was aged 12 when he was first assaulted by Doherty, said he pursued the case to encourage other victims to come forward.
"I felt that particularly because of who my abuser had been, that very few people would have been able to take it on. This motivated me. I felt that I would probably have been believed more than anybody else, because I was a garda."
Garda Sheerin, who said he was going public to stress to other victims that they should not feel any guilt, first reported his five-year ordeal to the authorities in 1994 after seeing a television programme about child sexual abuse. At that time he had just been transferred from a Garda station in Dublin to Co Leitrim.
"Up until that point, if it came into my mind I would have blocked it out. From then on, I was back in an environment that was very similar to where I had been reared, and for the first time I realised that I was an innocent child when it happened. Up until that point I would have felt that I was to blame and that I was guilty."
In evidence last Friday, Garda Sheerin (38), who is married with two children, said he had not been able to tell his wife of the abuse for years after their marriage because of the guilt he felt. It was her love and support afterwards that enabled him to cope.
Speaking to journalists in Sligo yesterday the couple emphasised the importance of media coverage of sex abuse cases and of their determination to highlight the issue. "I wasn't looking for a vendetta to be carried out . . . It was to try to do something that other victims would get courage from," Garda Sheerin said.
It was particularly difficult for victims because abusers were often in positions of authority. "It's very hard for a victim to actually come forward and try and get over that wall, because it is a huge barrier for people. I felt that I could trust the law to bring it to a conclusion.
"I felt that justice had to be seen to be applied, and that nobody whether you are a solicitor, a garda, no matter who you are, has a right to hide behind a position of authority in order to get away with those types of crimes."
He said the length of the sentence handed down to Doherty was not as important as the fact that the case had taken place.
Doherty was a close friend of the Sheerin family for many years and a regular visitor to their home. Garda Sheerin said he felt very sorry for Doherty's children, who were in court, and that this was something he had been conscious of all his life.
He said he had spent three years in counselling, two of which had dealt solely with the guilt he felt.
He urged all abuse victims to seek professional help.