The former Irish national swimming coach, Derry O'Rourke, who is already serving a 12-year sentence for sex offences involving teenage girls has been given another four-year sentence which he will serve concurrently for further offences.
O'Rourke (53), married with six children, of Edenderry, Co Offaly, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 19 sample charges out of a total of 59 involving six more girls. The indecent and sexual assault offences took place on dates unknown between July 1970 and December 1992. One of the offences involved oral sex and the girls were between 10 and 19 years and were all being coached by him.
Ms Isobel Kennedy, prosecuting, entered a nolle prosequi on one charge and asked that all the remaining counts be taken into consideration.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he knew the four-year sentence would cause anger but he had to approach the case according to the law. He hoped anyone who condemned the sentence would give a fair hearing to the analysis he gave with it.
The judge said the offences for which the 12-year sentence was imposed by Judge Kieran O'Connor in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court included acts of penetration. The four-year sentence could not be understood without understanding the legislative situation arising from the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1935 which covered many of the offences before the court.
That Act set two years as the general penalty for sexual assault with five years for oral rape.
Mr Justice Carney said "things began to happen" later but the legislature was "too prissy" to spell out what it meant when it upped the sentence to 10 years in the 1981 act for "indecent assault" which was to include such acts as oral and anal rape and use of an implement.
"The Oireachtas ceased to be prissy in 1990 and laid down a life sentence for these offences under section 4 of the new Act. Accordingly it brought down the sentence for indecent assault from 10 to five years," he said.
The courts now generally adopted five years as the maximum for this offence. Mr Justice Carney said O'Rourke had not occupied a trial date so the sentence would be four years.
Earlier, Det Sgt Mary Delmar said O'Rourke had admitted the offences when interviewed by her and Det Garda Sarah Keane in the Curragh Prison. He expressed remorse for the trauma he caused his victims and said he was ashamed of himself. She outlined to Ms Kennedy the abuse which took place in his car, his office, toilets, dressing rooms, showers and store-rooms.
Det Sgt Delmar said he abused the girls in their swimsuits and sometimes when they were fully dressed.
Det Sgt Delmar said the girls generally revealed they knew what he was doing was wrong but several of them had no knowledge of the facts of life even in their early teens.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said O'Rourke now had insight into his offending and was anxious to partake of the treatment available when it came to the Curragh Prison in due course.
O'Rourke was jailed for 12 years on January 30th, 1998, by Judge O'Connor at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to 29 charges relating to offences involving 11 girls. The charges covered unlawful carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15, sexual assault and indecent assault, on dates from 1976 to 1992.