A 26-year-old man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting some 15 children when they were aged between two and eight years old has today been sentenced to 20 years in jail with the final seven years suspended.
Kevin Scully from Glounaphuca, Caheragh, Drimoleague, Co Cork appeared at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where he was sentenced on a total of 16 sample counts of sexually assaulting the ten girls and five boys between April 1997 and June 2000.
Scully was aged between 15 and 17 at the time of the sexual assaults with some of the victims being assaulted just once and others being assaulted on multiple occasions.
Judge Patrick Moran imposed four year sentences on five of the sample counts with the sentences to run consecutively but he suspended the final seven years of the 20 year term on condition that Scully remain under the supervision of the Probation Service upon his release and for a further three years after that.
He also backdated the jail term to May 23rd 2003 when Scully entered the Central Mental Hospital where he remained until 2007 when he was deemed fit to plead to the charges and went forward to trial.
Scully has been in custody at Cork Prison since he pleaded guilty to the sample counts last year and earlier this year the court heard that both psychiatric experts and investigating gardai considered him at a high risk of re-offending.
Judge Patrick Moran also made it a condition of the sentence that Scully not return to West Cork for the period of the sentence and post-release supervision while he also ordered that his name be placed on the Sex Offenders Register until he is 55 years-of-age.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) said the sentence reinforces the severity of the crime and the unacceptability of child sexual abuse.
Advocacy manager Mary Nicholson said: "There is a need to implement a risk assessment model, and to strengthen legislation to allow for the sharing of information and improved monitoring of offenders - all of which will provide a more comprehensive response to the management of sex offenders."
