A 53-year-old retired Army employee received a nine-month suspended sentence yesterday after he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a mentally impaired child who had been under the care of the Brothers of Charity at the time of the abuse.
The man, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty at Galway District Court to three sample charges of indecently assaulting the boy, a slow learner who was then aged 12. The abuse began in 1974 and ended in 1977. An earlier hearing was told both abuser and victim were placed in the care of the Brothers. The accused, who had been put into care in 1954, aged 10, claimed he had been abused himself.
Judge Mary Fahy imposed a suspended sentence because a probation report said the accused was unlikely to reoffend. He had pleaded guilty and there was an offer of €5,000 from him to the victim. Judge Fahy upheld an earlier court ruling restricting publication of the accused's name.