A child abuser who fled before he had been sentenced for molesting his then five-year-old nephew 30 years ago has now been jailed after being recaptured last month.
The 52-year-old grandfather was due to be sentenced last December by Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The judge had adjourned the case overnight to consider it and the man failed to show up the following day.
Garda Avril Doyle told Melanie Greally BL, prosecuting, that the bench warrant was executed last month and the man was remanded in custody.
He had pleaded guilty to indecent assault at the child’s Dublin home at some point during 1983.
He was 22 years old at the time and later blamed his offending behaviour on a drinking problem.
The man had previous convictions for public order and road traffic offences and was registered as a sex offender when he pleaded guilty to this offence.
The court heard he had been minding the boy while his mother was at the shops. He followed the child into the bathroom and blocked the door.
He then tried to make his victim perform oral sex on him. The man then performed oral sex on the five-year-old.
Garda Doyle said the boy told his mother the next day and she confronted the man. He denied the allegations but when the victim reported the abuse to gardaí in January 2011, he made full admissions and expressed remorse.
Judge Nolan sentenced the man to two years in prison but suspended the remaining 18 months on strict conditions.
He accepted it was a once-off incident but said a victim impact report before the court stated that it had a considerable affect on the victim in both the medium and long term.
Judge Nolan said he had also accepted that the man’s remorse was genuine and that he had been “carrying the burden” of his crime for a number of years.
Garda Doyle agreed with James Dwyer BL, defending, that the man has no previous convictions for sexual offences nor has there been any allegation of such conduct.
She accepted that when he was arrested he told the gardaí: “I have been waiting for this knock on my door for 30 years.”
Garda Doyle further accepted that while the man denied the allegation, his extended family believed that he had molested the child.
Mr Dwyer said that his client has a serious drinking problem and told Judge Nolan this was the likely cause of his absence in December rather than any attempt to escape a sentence.
Counsel said that his client deals with stress by resorting to alcohol and that he had not meant any disrespect to the court.
Mr Dwyer said the man feels huge remorse and shame and that he suffers from depression.
He said his client has led a “very sad and miserable life” and that this has been a punishment in itself. He said the man had both self-harmed and attempted suicide over the years.
Mr Dwyer asked the court to accept that his client was “not a threat to any member of the public” and said he had “suffered” due to the family knowing what had happened.