Bill Kenneally loses appeal against sentence for indecently assaulting 10 boys
A former basketball coach who groomed and abused young boys in Waterford has lost an appeal against his prison sentence.
Bill Kenneally, with an address at Summerville Avenue, Waterford City, had pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of indecently assaulting 10 boys at various locations in Waterford in the 1980s.
Kenneally was originally charged with 70 counts spanning dates in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was sentenced at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court to 14 years and two months imprisonment by Judge Eugene O'Kelly in February 2016.
The 67-year-old had argued that the sentence was "grossly excessive", but the Court of Appeal did not agree with him.
Speaking outside court, one of his victims Colin Power said justice had been served.
He said: "I'm relieved, ecstatic. I think to be fair, the judges in there said his sentence was a model of sentencing.
"So I think this sends out a fairly strong point to paedophiles and people who sexually abuse that they can be sent to jail for 14 years, they can stay there.
"And that can only be positive for victims."
