A FORMER Fianna Fáil chairman of Cavan County Council charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in a hotel bedroom in Killarney two years ago changed his plea in court yesterday to guilty.
Anthony Vesey (52), Kilconny, Belturbet, Co Cavan, had pleaded not guilty on Wednesday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee to the charge of sexual assault of a male under the age of 17 at the Malton Hotel, Killarney on September 26th, 2007.
Yesterday defence counsel David Sutton told Judge Carroll Moran he wished to have his client re-arraigned. The charge was put to Vesey a second time, to which he replied: “Guilty”.
Vesey had been a delegate at a major vocational education conference at the former Killarney Great Southern Hotel at the time of the alleged assault. The complainant was not a hotel employee but worked with an agency providing catering workers.
Judge Moran ordered reporting restrictions so the identity of the victim would be protected. He rejected an appeal by defence counsel Mark Nichols to prohibit publication of the accused’s name.
A jury of seven women and five men had been sworn in and the trial was set to open fully yesterday and take at least three days.
After the change in plea Mr Sutton asked for an adjournment, as he needed to assemble witnesses and evidence for the purposes of the sentence hearing. The State counsel, Tom Rice, agreed.
Judge Moran told the jury they would not be needed. If the case had gone on, it would have gone into next week, he said. He adjourned the matter for sentencing to January 18th, and noted the evidence for a sentencing hearing differed to that of a trial.
Vesey was first elected to what became Belturbet Town Council in 1979, and subsequently to Cavan County Council in 1985.
He was a member of the county council until last June and a member of a number of regional and tourism bodies.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 1992. He resigned from Fianna Fáil on October 4th, 2007, once the sexual assault allegation came to light, saying he was doing so without prejudice.
He topped the poll in the June 2009 Belturbet Town Council elections, running as an Independent.
In September 2007, the male who was allegedly assaulted reported the case to his supervisor, and hotel management immediately contacted gardaí. Vesey was arrested the next morning on suspicion of sexual assault.