A man who indecently assaulted an eight-year old boy in the 1980s has been jailed for one year.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said of his attacker, Thomas Deegan: “Any power he had over me as a child is gone”, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on a previous sentencing date.
Deegan (55) of Oakwood Road, Finglas, Dublin pleaded guilty to one count of indecently assaulting the boy at a field in Dublin on a date between May 1982 and October 1985.
Deegan was due to stand trial in November last year, but he did not show up and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was eventually “tracked down” in Donegal and placed in custody, Detective Garda Paul Fahey told the court.
A new trial was set down for earlier this month, but on the first day of that trial, Deegan entered a guilty plea.
Passing sentence on Tuesday, Judge Elma Sheahan said that while the plea in this case was by no means early, it had value in that it spared the victim from going through the rigours of the trial process.
Judge Sheahan said the victim had laid bare the distress and damage he said this offence had done to him. She said he was to be commended for his bravery in coming forward and that he did so out of concern for others.
She said the case was aggravated by the seriousness of the offence, the disparity in ages and the breach of trust. She said the court took note of Deegan’s previous good character, his apology to the victim and his physical health issues.
Judge Sheahan sentenced Deegan to two years imprisonment. She said that owing to the absence of offending by Deegan in the time since this incident, she believed it appropriate to suspend the final 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions.
At a previous sentencing hearing, Det Gda Fahey told the court that the boy was playing in a field with a friend one day when Deegan, who was then aged around 18, came into the field and defecated in front of the children.
Some time after this incident, the boy was playing on a wall when Deegan approached him and gestured to the child to follow him. The boy, who was around 8 at the time, felt intimidated and followed Deegan into the field, where Deegan indecently assaulted him.
The boy repeatedly said he needed to go home and managed to get up and walk away. Deegan followed him and told him not to tell his parents what had happened. From then on, the boy gave Deegan “wide berth” whenever he saw him around the area, the court heard.
In 2015 the victim, who is now aged 45, felt it was time to give a statement to gardaí about what had happened to him as a child. Deegan was arrested and eventually charged in 2017.
In a victim impact statement read out in court by Det Gda Fahey, the complainant said: “What people like Thomas Deegan need to know is that little people grow up to be bigger and stronger. Any power he had over me as a child is gone.”
The man, who was in court for the hearing, said he suffered from low self-esteem and anxiety as a result of Deegan’s actions that day. He said he felt “ashamed” that this was his first experience of sexuality and that he is now over-protective of his own children.
He said he still feels a “deep anger” towards Deegan.
Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing BL, defending, said his client wished to formally apologise to the victim for his “shocking and disgraceful” actions.
He submitted that this offence was a single, isolated incident that was never repeated. The court heard Deegan has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention apart from this offence.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said his client was a man of otherwise good character, who worked in the construction industry until he had a number of heart attacks some years ago. He was briefly married when he was younger but now lives an “isolated life”.
The court heard Deegan was drinking heavily and “burying his head in the sand” when he moved to Donegal, in the hopes that the charges would just go away. Mr Ó Dúnlaing urged Judge Sheahan to consider imposing a suspended sentence.