Man who 'lured' eight boys to sexually abuse them over 30 years ago is convicted
Victims included to two sets of three brothers and two other young boys
A man has been convicted of sexually abusing eight boys over a 12 year period, which happened over 30 years ago.
The Kilkenny man had denied the charges but was convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury this Thursday, May 16.
After over ten hours of deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts to 78 counts which included charges of oral rape, anal rape and sexual assault against eight complaints.
The man had pleaded not guilty to a total of 121 charges against the boys, including sexual assault, anal rape and oral rapes on dates between 1995 and 2007.
The defendant was silent while the verdicts were being read out to the court but was restless.
Ms Justice Creedon revoked the man’s bail and remanded him in custody. She adjourned the matter for sentencing until July 8 next and ordered the preparation of victim impact statements from the eight complaints in the case.
At the opening of the trial last month, Dominic McGinn SC prosecuting told the jury that the man is accused of sexual abuse involving both anal and oral rape over a period of 12 years against eight boys.
He said the case involves two sets of three brothers and two other young boys who all allege that the man abused them in his homes and also in some other areas in the locality.
Mr McGinn said that the accused “lured them into conversation by the offer of cigarettes” and then invited them into his home “where he would prey on their innocence, naivety and confusion”.
One man was sexually assaulted and anally raped by the accused between 1995 and 1996, when he was between 11 and 13 years old. A second man was sexually abused by him when he was 11 years old between 1997 and 1999.
The accused was convicted of abusing three brothers in one family.
A second family of three brothers were also abused by the man between 1998 and 2007, when they were aged between 10 and 17 years old.
These brothers reported the abuse to their mother in 2000, and the gardaí were alerted, but the case did not progress.
The court heard that one of the complainants attacked the home of the accused a number of years later. He was arrested and prosecuted for this offence.
It was during the investigation of this attack that the man claimed he had been abused by the accused, which was why he reacted the way he did. His disclosure led to the other men coming forward.
The trial will continue in July.