No jail for abuser, on medical grounds
A Wicklow man who sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl has walked free from court because the prison service will not be able to handle his medical needs.
The 62-year-old, who also has previous convictions for rape and attempted murder dating back 27 years, was given a seven-and-a-half year sentence, suspended in full on condition he only leaves him home for several hours each day.
The man, who suffers from a life-threatening illness, cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim.
He had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the girl on a Wicklow beach on September 21, 2005 and was convicted by a jury in February of this year.
Judge Tony Hunt said he had committed perjury by "spinning a yarn" to the jury.
Judge Hunt said he felt a "certain amount of repulsion" for the man and regretted that he could not jail him but said because of his medical condition, a prison term would effectively amount to a capital sentence.
At a previous hearing Judge Hunt asked that enquires be made about having the man electronically tagged instead of prison but was told that there is no scheme in place for this. He ordered that if a scheme comes online that the man be considered as a candidate for it.
He further ordered that the man not leave his place of residence, except between 9.30am and 2.30pm and for medical appointments.
The judge gave a brief summary of the evidence, commenting that the man had committed a “very serious and disturbing assault” on the girl and had taken advantage of her difficult family and personal circumstances.
Prior to the assault the man had volunteered to take the girl to school and on the third day of this arrangement he instead took her to the beach where the abuse occurred.
A professor, who was out jogging, saw the pair and said that there was "absolutely no doubt" that he had witnessed a serious sexual assault on a child.
He said after he passed them he looked over his shoulder and he could see them both standing up and looking towards him. He jogged on and knocked on the door of a house and asked for a phone to call the gardaí.
The now 14-year-old complainant said during her evidence that she could not remember what happened on the beach. She said this was because she was trying "to get rid of what happened to me".
The man claimed in his defence that he was driving the girl to school when she said she wanted to collect some stones. He said he drove her to a beach and while they were there she came to him and told him that she had hurt herself. He asked her where and she pulled down her trousers.
He said he saw a red mark on her leg and she thought it was bleeding so he rubbed it.
Judge Hunt said one of the "disgusting and revolting factors" of the case was that the man was not wearing underwear and he worried what might have happened if the professor had not come along when he did.
