A Kenmare man who pleaded guilty to 24 counts of sexual offences against six children has been sentenced to 10 years in jail. The last four years were suspended on a number of conditions.
Judge Carroll Moran rejected an application by the defence for a further adjournment to allow Gustav Dahm to avail of psychological treatment for sex offenders, which it was stated he could not receive in jail.
However, Tom Rice, prosecuting, had strongly urged the judge to pass sentence "to give closure" to the case for the sake of the victims. A number of the victims were in court with their families yesterday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee.
Passing sentence, Judge Moran said: "I have to be blunt about it. It appears to reveal a history of debauchery of six children which took place between 1986 and 2003." There had been "a multiplicity" of offences. They were not in a continuous sequence but were a sign of "sexual depravity" proceeding intermittently over 17 years, he said.
Given the gravity and the multiplicity of the offences, he had no option but to impose a prison sentence. Judge Moran suspended four years on four conditions, including that Dahm should have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 17.
Dahm must also continue his treatment under the direction of the probation and welfare service, obey all directions of the service and must not commit any criminal offences of a sexual nature, for the four years to be suspended.
Dahm (35), Ard na Mara, Pier Road, Kenmare, an Irish national of German parents, had lured children and teenagers with offers of treats, money and cigarettes, previous sittings of the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee had heard.
The nature of the abuses came to light when a 22-year-old man came forward to Kerry Rape Crisis Centre and to gardaí in 2003 and told of his abuse as a child. Others were then uncovered during a two-year investigation led by Det John Evans into Dahm's activities.
In June last year, Dahm admitted to charges of gross indecency, sexual assault and indecent assault between 1986 and 2003. One victim was aged five.
The abuse started when Dahm was a teenager, after when, the court was told, he himself had been abused by a man.
In later years the victims were young teenagers. Some of the abuses took place in a swimming pool. Others he carried out in the grounds of his house. He lived in an apartment where he installed expensive disco lights and a sound system to lure the teenagers. There he would allow the underage teenagers to consume alcohol and cigarettes and would abuse them when they were intoxicated and unable to fight him off.
Asking for mitigation, John O'Sullivan, defending, said Dahm had "a retarded level of emotional development". He had pleaded guilty and had spared the victims the trauma of having to give evidence, Mr O'Sullivan said.