A JUDGE yesterday told a Co Tipperary man that he is going to jail today for abusing a Derry schoolgirl over a four-year period starting in December 1998 when the girl was aged 14.
Judge Desmond Marrinan QC said while he would reflect on the case overnight, there was no question that the case crossed the custody threshold. The maximum sentence for gross indecency of a child is two years’ imprisonment and the maximum sentence for indecently assaulting a child is 10 years.
Daniel Clarke (59) from Silver Street in Nenagh, pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and to three charges of gross indecency with the child. He committed the offences in his flat in Fountain Hill in the Waterside area of the city, some of them when his victim, who is expecting her second child, stayed overnight with him.
Clarke, a former taxi driver in Derry, has already served 10 months in custody after he pleaded guilty to the 11 offences following his arrest on March 31st last year. Judge Marrinan said he would take into consideration Clarke’s early plea of guilty and the fact that he spared his victim the trauma of having to give evidence. He said he would also take account of Clarke’s previous clear report and the fact that Clarke, when requested to do so by the PSNI, travelled from Nenagh to Derry to be interviewed.
Defence counsel Eilish MacDermott QC said at no time had Clarke attempted to thwart the police investigation.
“He was contacted last year by the PSNI at his home in Co Tipperary. He was made fully aware of the reasons why they wanted to speak to him. He travelled to this jurisdiction to be interviewed by the police and in the full know-ledge of what they wanted to speak to him about.
“He did not seek legal advice before coming here and he did not have a solicitor present when he was formally interviewed. He arrived in court for his first remand without a solicitor after the police had clearly warned him of his rights”, she said.
Ms MacDermott said Clarke made full and frank admissions to the police and when he thought they were terminating his interview, he made further admissions without prompting or pressure.