A 30 year old man has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a 10 year old girl in Galway on three occasions in late 1993 and early 1994. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty.
Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard that the defendant, a native of Belfast, had befriended the girl who was a regular visitor to a house where he was staying in Galway. He had taken her and his landlady's daughter to swim at Leisureland and joined them in the showers. While he did not touch the girl, he had performed a sexual act in front of her.
At the house where he was staying he had played "a tumbling game" with the girl while wearing only a dressing gown, a garda told the court.
The man had studied at UCG and spent six years in a seminary training for the priesthood. He made a living by playing traditional music. Mr John O'Donnell BL, defending, pointed out that no physical contact was involved, while the man had been in a children's up to the age of five and sexually abused as a child.