Kerry sports coach jailed 14 years for raping two teenage girls
A 63-year-old sports coach was sentenced to 14 years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault of two girls aged 15 to 17.
Kerry sports coach jailed 14 years for rape and sexual assault of two teenage girls
A 63-year-old sports coach from Kerry has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted of raping and sexually assaulting two teenage girls who were 40 years his junior, TheJournal.ie reports.
The Central Criminal Court in Cork heard the case earlier this year. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of three counts of rape, nine counts of oral and digital rape, and ten counts of sexual assault against one victim, as well as nine counts of sexual assault against a second girl. All offences took place between 2020 and 2021, when the victims were aged between 15 and 17.
Ms Justice Lankford sentenced the man to 10.5 years in relation to the first victim and 3.5 years in relation to the second. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
Threats and coercion
Det Garda Raleen Bell gave evidence that the man sent text messages to one of his victims reading: "I hope you are not out to hang me. Keep your mouth shut and we will be fine." A further message read: "I could kidnap you."
The court also heard that the man threatened to drop both girls from his sports programme if they disclosed his conduct. When an investigating detective warned him to stay away from one of the complainants, his response was: "What happens when she is 18?"
In her closing speech to the jury in April, prosecution senior counsel Anne Rowland said it "took some gall" for the man to put that question to the detective.
Abuse beginning at age 12
Det Garda Darragh McGuire gave evidence that the man began coaching one of the victims when she was just 12 years old. He was verbally and physically abusive toward her, slapping her if he felt she was not performing adequately in her sport.
On one occasion he drove her to a field in a rural location and told her: "I could do anything to you out here, I could rape you, I could kill you." He later began forcing her to perform sexual acts on him, including while he was driving his car and on one occasion in a church car park.
The girl was raped for the first time in the summer of 2021. She was in such pain during the assault that she bit her arm and begged him to stop. He raped her on a number of occasions at overnight sports events around the country. Two rooms would be booked at accommodation, but he would force the girl to stay in his room. After she eventually fell asleep, she would wake to find him beginning to assault her again.
Investigation launched after contact from ex-wife
The man's then wife contacted the mother of the first victim to say she believed he was engaging in inappropriate contact with the girl. A Garda investigation was subsequently launched.
The court heard that the abuse of the second girl began with the man touching her outside her clothing. When the mother of the second girl learned he had booked them both into a single room for a sports event and confronted him, he replied: "I was hardly going to rape her."
Victim impact statements
In her victim impact statement, read into evidence at the sentencing hearing, the first victim said the man had "hunted her."
"You took away my innocence, something that can never be replaced, you broke the soul of a child. You normalised this behaviour — you used your position as my coach/mentor/teacher to manipulate and force me to things no teenager should ever have to do… You left me alone and afraid… You threatened me, making me fear you to ensure my silence on what was happening," she said.
The second victim said the man had filled her with dreams of becoming "the next big thing" in her chosen sport and used that ambition to manipulate and control her. She described being deeply affected by the "psychological and sexual abuse" she experienced.
"One of the hardest things I carry is the guilt I felt when I learned that there were others after me. I remember thinking over and over again that if I had spoken sooner, maybe they would have been spared the fear, the manipulation and the damage that you inflicted," she said.
Sentencing remarks
Ms Justice Lankford noted that the man had not accepted the jury's verdict and had shown no remorse. She identified the significant age gap between the accused and his victims as an aggravating factor, along with his efforts to distance the girls from their parents during the period of abuse.
Source: TheJournal.ie