A retired primary school teacher who indecently assaulted three pupils was given a three-year suspended sentence at Sligo Circuit Court yesterday.
Michael Patrick Cunnane (64), from Glenview Park, Grange, Co Sligo, had pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault. The assaults took place in a locked classroom, at a beach and in fields between January 1974 and June 1981.
One of the boys was aged eight when the assaults began. The other boys were aged between eight and 12. Cunnane carried out the assaults under the pretence of giving his victims horse-riding lessons.
Judge Carroll Moran said psychiatric reports suggested that the accused was unlikely to re-offend.