A COUNTY Kildare primary school teacher has admitted sexually assaulting five female pupils on dates from 1992 to 1995.
Judge Kieran O'Connor requested a probation report and remanded the 48 year old married father of four on bail for sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on April 22nd next.
He also addressed the parents of the victims and asked them to bear in mind the guilty pleas had spared their daughters the trauma of giving evidence.
He said he had presided over a number of such trials over the years and on some occasions victims had become so upset at giving evidence that they stopped and walked away.
"You should, in so far as it is possible, get your children to put these unhappy episodes behind them and get on with their lives", he said.
Originally the teacher, who cannot be named, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault against the girls and a jury was sworn to try the case.
But before the first girl, now 15, began giving her evidence via video link to prosecution counsel Mr John Aylmer, defence counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC asked for his client to be rearraigned.
The defendant pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the girl at a Co Kildare national school on an unknown date from August 31st, 1992 to December 1st, 1992.
Mr Aylmer said this plea was accepted on the basis it was representative of five more charges relating to the girl.
The defendant also pleaded guilty to one charge each of sexually assaulting the next three girls, who were all under 15, on dates from August 1993 to January 1995. He further admitted sexually assaulting the last girl when she was also under 15 on two occasions in 1994.
Mr Gageby said he did not want his remarks interpreted in any way as suggesting the offences were unimportant, as no offences against children could be regarded as trivial.
However, he said, there were ameliorating circumstances in the case. The offences were at the lower end of the scale of sexual assault and his client had been dismissed from his job. Mr Gageby said the defendant had qualified in 1966 and had been a good teacher but would never work in the profession again.
Mr Gagehy asked Judge O'Connor to allow his client remain on his £1,000 bail until the sentence hearing.
Opening the case to the jury, Mr Aylmer had said the first victim was in sixth class and went to the defendant for help with her maths three times a week.
She later complained that the defendant had rubbed his private part against her while she was correcting sums on the blackboard. He also sat down beside her and put his hands on her legs and around her shoulders.
Mr Aylmer said the second girl who was in the same class would allege she was kept back sometimes after class and the defendant touched her breast through her jumper.