The 72-year-old man from Waterford, Ireland, will be sentenced next month.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual harm.
The man, a former sports coach, changed his plea part-way through the trial, after the prosecution had presented their evidence.
The man pleaded guilty to ‘sample’ or representative charges relating to indecent acts done on five young boys on unknown dates between 1979 and 1993.
He has name suppression to protect the identity of his victims.
The man initially claimed the acts took place at times when the victims were over the age of 15. The law in force in Ireland at the time of the offending did not criminalise the acts against persons over 15 if they were by consent. He also claimed one of the victims was ‘tutoring’ the others to make false complaints.
A report in the Irish Examiner detailed the allegations against the man.
The first complainant now aged 51 said the accused offered him money to expose his genitals when he was 13 years old. The complainant said this happened regularly before it progressed to other sexual acts. He said he engaged in the acts for the money and gifts.
The second complainant, now aged 48, told the court that when he was aged around 12, the accused man started making ‘sexual innuendos’ to him. He said the defendant then offered him money if he would let the man touch his genitals. He said these interactions became a regular occurrence and progressed to include other sexual acts. He said he agreed to the acts ‘for the money’. The complainant agreed with Mr Peart that he consented to acts from the age of 15 but rejected a suggestion that the accused man never gave him money.
The third complainant, now 52 gave evidence that he got into the man’s car one day after finishing his exams in June 1985 when he was around 14. The man drove to the edge of the town, then put his hand down the boy’s jeans and touched his genitals. The complainant said this lasted for one or two minutes but ‘felt like a lifetime’. He said he went to the local Garda station the next day to report what had happened and was told he would need an adult with him to make a complaint.
The fourth complainant, now aged 52, told Mr Greene that the inappropriate contact with the man started when he was nine or ten years old. The complainant said there was ‘money and cans’ involved in these interactions.
The fifth complainant, now 56, told the court that the inappropriate contact began when he was around 12, and these acts continued weekly until he was 15. He said the man gave him money.
The accused will be sentenced on May 22.
Image credit: Sora Shimazaki
