A man who advertised in a local newspaper offering part-time work to a teenage boy proceeded to befriend the boy's family and then sexually assault him, Trim Circuit Court heard yesterday. The man, wanted in Northern Ireland for similar offences, had been sexually abused as a child.
The 28-year-old man, who cannot be identified to protect the victim, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault and two of buggery of the boy, then 14, in June and August 1997.
The court heard how he had placed an advertisement in the Meath Chronicle looking for a teenager to work part-time in dog kennels at weekends and during the summer.
Judge Raymond Groarke said the manner in which he came to know his victim was curious and open to innocent interpretation and also open to a condemnatory explanation.
He had interviewed the boy and then taken him on as an assistant. He did not have dog kennels but gave him labouring work, took him with him around the country and took him into his confidence. They became friends but it developed into something of a physical and sexual nature resulting in acts of buggery, the judge said.
Given the circumstances of the offence there could be no doubt the man had taken advantage, and the consequences were serious, even though reports said the young man was studying well.
In his statement to gardai, the man said he had become sexually aroused when he took the boy on a trip to Donegal, but nothing had happened. The next weekend the boy stayed with him and he indecently assaulted him.
By July 1997 he was living with the boy's family and slept in the same room as him. Mr Pat Purcell, defending, said his client had been physically and sexually abused as a teenager and was a reformed alcoholic. He is separated with a child.
After his arrest he made a full statement to gardai and co-operated. In a letter handed in to court he apologised to the victim and his family. He had also consented to his extradition to Northern Ireland which was before Dublin District Court in August 1997.
Judge Groarke imposed a two-year sentences on each of the sexual assault charges and five years on both buggery charges. They are to run concurrently and date from January 25th when the accused was first taken into custody. He directed that he receive whatever psychological treatment was available.