A FORMER county councillor was given a two-year suspended sentence at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee yesterday for sexually assaulting a teenager in Killarney.
The offence occurred in a hotel during an education conference that the councillor attended. Anthony Vesey (52), Kilconny, Belturbet, Co Cavan, pleaded guilty last November to the charge of sexual assault of a male under 17 at the Malton Hotel, Killarney on September 26th, 2007. Vesey was no longer a councillor, the court was told.
The sentencing hearing yesterday heard Vesey was forced to close his shop, had suffered social isolation and embarrassment, and with the loss of his business and council seat suffered severe financial consequences and a loss of standing in the community.
Outlining the facts of the case, Garda Mike Dalton told prosecutor Tom Rice how the injured party, who did not have perfect English, was working for a catering agency to serve drinks at the conference. While serving a drink to the accused, they struck up a conversation.
The teenager, who was just two weeks short of his 17th birthday, was returning from his break at about 10.30pm, when he met Anthony Vesey near the lift area.
He accompanied Vesey to his bedroom, being under the impression the accused needed his help.
“He thought he was being asked to go to the accused’s room on a work-related issue,” Mr Rice said.
However, in the bedroom, the accused loosened the buttons on his shirt and took off his tie. He started to kiss the teenager on the neck and squeeze his buttocks. He also opened the teenager’s trousers. The teenager asked him to stop and he did.
He offered the teenager a present and said he would give him a good tip if he returned to his room later. When he got to the lower floor – 17 minutes after entering the lift with Vesey – the teenager reported the matter to his superiors.
In a victim impact statement, the teenager said he had to leave his job as his confidence was shaken and he could no longer interact easily with older men. He has recovered well since.
David Sutton SC, for the defendant, handed in medical reports which outlined how Vesey, who had heterosexual relationships and a teenage son, had difficulty coming to terms with his homosexuality. Paedophilia was not an issue, the psychologist’s report stated. The court also heard compensation was paid and the injured party did not want a jail sentence imposed.
Handing down sentence, Judge Carroll Moran said it was a serious sexual assault by an older man on a much younger man “and where the accused was of a much larger build”.
The judge noted that there was a low risk of re-offending and Vesey did not have a previous conviction or paedophiliac tendencies. He had pleaded guilty, was remorseful, had suffered and there was a suggestion he had misinterpreted signals.
However, the seriousness of the offence merited a prison sentence, and he imposed two years, suspended for two years. He has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.