A BUSINESSMAN has been jailed for four years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually abusing two children 30 years ago.
The court heard Fintan Brennan (51), who was described as “an evil monster” by one of his victims, transferred several of his properties to his wife’s name at about the time of his trial last July in an effort to avoid having to hand them over as compensation to his victims.
Judge Patrick McCartan said he was unimpressed with Brennan’s behaviour: “He took active steps in collusion with his wife to frustrate the payment of any meaningful compensation.”
Brennan’s property company is involved in buying houses and renting them to tenants. The court heard the business is currently €2 million in debt.
Judge McCartan also criticised his behaviour before the trial when Brennan hired private investigators to look into the lives of his two victims.
A solicitor for the victims told the court that, at about the time of his trial, Brennan transferred all of his property which was free from debt into his wife’s name. This amounted to six apartments.
Brennan’s defence counsel, Anthony Sammon SC, told the court that his wife was willing to give up two city centre apartments with a combined value of €196,000 for him to use as compensation. The victims refused to accept this. Judge McCartan then said he may “stay my hand” if Brennan was to offer a different pair of city centre apartments which could be sold by the victims.
The defence replied that Brennan’s wife was unwilling to hand these over as the repayment structure for their other properties would become “untenable”.
In sentencing Brennan, Judge McCartan said: “The lives of two innocent and young people were utterly destroyed for his own personal physical gratification.”
He noted the devastating effect the abuse had on the victims, and Brennan’s efforts to manipulate his male victim into staying silent by calling him constantly and asking him to be best man at his wedding.
He took into account that since his trial, Brennan had accepted his guilt and had no previous convictions.
He sentenced him to two terms of two years to run consecutively.
Brennan of Mabestown, The Ward, north Co Dublin, was convicted by a jury earlier this year of 18 counts of indecent assault of the siblings at various locations in Dublin between January 1976 and June 1982. He had denied all the charges.
Victim impact reports by the brother and sister were read in court detailing the effect of the abuse on their lives. Both were seven when the abuse started.
The man said his abuser continued to call him up to four times a day until he was 34 to “make sure I was still on his side”.
He said Brennan had asked him to be his best man at his wedding because he knew if the case ever came to court he could use that fact against him. “After my father’s death, instead of being comforted, I was abused constantly by . I can only describe him as an evil monster.”
The woman said she used to self harm in an attempt to convince Brennan she had a disease, and that this would deter the sexual abuse. She described her pain at knowing her brother was also being abused but not being able to help him.
“I was his big sister and I failed him, I let him down,” she said. “I used to ask him to take me and leave alone. I was vulnerable and trapped and there was no escape.”
Detective Garda Edel Keogan told prosecuting counsel, Ms Cathleen Noctor, that Brennan had regular access to his victims at the time of the abuse.