Maths teacher gets three years for sexually abusing boy three times
A maths teacher has been sentenced to three years for sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy he was giving grinds to.
The 53-year-old foreign national, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, abused the boy five times during three separate lessons. The abuse came to light when the boy’s father found him crying after one of the grinds.
The defendant pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of sexual assault at his Dublin home during August 2013.
Judge Martin Nolan imposed a three-year sentence, citing the breach of trust involved in the abuse and the effect it had on the boy. He suspended the final year after taking into account the man’s previous good character and lack of previous convictions.
An investigating garda told prosecuting counsel Gerardine Small BL that the defendant worked as a substitute teacher and also gave lessons in his home.
The boy’s first few lessons went by without incident but during the fourth lesson the man began to “hug him for too long” and put his face next to the boy’s face.
The man then started to touch the boy’s penis through his clothes and to make him touch his own penis. The boy would tell him to stop and try to divert the man’s attention back to the maths lesson.
In later lessons the abuse escalated to the man putting his mouth on the boy’s penis through his clothes. At one stage one of the man’s children came into the room and the defendants shouted at them angrily.
The boy left the final lesson feeling shocked and awkward. His father noticed he was upset and crying. The boy told him what happened and they reported the matter to gardaí.
The teacher was arrested and made admissions in the back of the garda car on the way to the station and later entered an early guilty plea.
Defence counsel Caroline Biggs SC said his family has since returned to his native country but that his wife still supports him.
She said there was no violence or threats used during the abuse and that her client is very remorseful.
Counsel said the man has an excellent work history and moved to this country to provide a better life for his children. She said he has been doing well in custody and is teaching other lessons.
