A man who sexually abused a five-year-old boy 22 years ago has received a five-year sentence from Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Ray Hudson (55), who has been blind most of his life due to a genetic condition, was jailed by Judge Delahunt after she had been told that suitable provision had been made in prison to cater for his disability.
Hudson, Coultry Road, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to two counts of buggery on the then five-year- old boy in 1985.
The now 27-year-old man, in a statement read out in court, said that his first memory was of "a naked man hovering over me to satisfy his sexual needs" and of the man buying him toys "to buy my silence".
He said Hudson had taken his "natural sexual development and virginity" but he hoped that once sentence was passed, he could "close this chapter in my life which has haunted me for 20 years".
Judge Delahunt suspended the last two years of the sentence on strict condition. She also ordered that Hudson be placed on post-release supervision for five years.
She said he was "in a privileged and trusted position" when he abused the little boy and noted that his crimes "had a traumatic effect on his victim".
Judge Delahunt accepted Hudson was genuinely remorseful now and "deeply disgusted" by his actions. She also noted that he had been sexually abused during what she described as "a sad childhood" but that this was "by way of an explanation and not an excuse".
Sgt David Kemp told Mary Rose Gearty, prosecuting, that the victim first complained to gardaí in 2004 that he had been buggered twice in 1985 while being babysat by Hudson. He said Hudson bought him toys and brought him to the zoo soon after telling him not to mention it to anyone.
The second time, he and his brother were playing at the end of a bed on which Hudson was lying. Hudson asked him to get into bed to "play mummies and daddies". He said Hudson rubbed baby oil all over him.
The victim said he felt "a great deal of anger" when he found out that "sex happened between a man and a woman and not a man and a man" when speaking with friends when he was older.
Hudson, who has no previous convictions, made admissions to gardaí and said he was "disgusted" with himself.
Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, said Hudson "had visited upon a totally innocent child what had been inflicted upon him as a child and teenager" but had shown remorse for his actions.
Mr Ó Lideadha said Hudson suffered from epilepsy and a genetic condition which left him totally blind as a teenager. Hudson's father died while he was an infant and he had been sexually and physically abused by his stepfather who was also violent towards his mother.
His mother died when he was 13, he went blind when he was 14 and he was then put into a residential institution where he was sexually abused.
Mr Ó Lideadha had asked that the court satisfy itself that the Prison Service would be able to deal with his disability and to accommodate his guide dog.