A Roscommon man who sexually abused two girls attending his wife's crèche has been given a two-year suspended sentence by Judge Yvonne Murphy at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
John Nally (61), of Ballybay, Kiltoon, had been convicted in March 2003 by a majority verdict on five charges of sexual assault involving the two girls.
Both were aged eight at the time, and the offences happened at his home on dates between September 1999 and September 2000.
Judge Murphy said that while the girls had been affected, the process of telling their parents and the conclusion of the trial had helped them and they were getting on well with their lives.
She also noted that one of the victims' parents had said a custodial sentence was not necessary in this case, and that now both sets of parents were neutral in relation to this aspect.
She said the crèche, which both the girls and their parents had said was well run by Nally's wife, had to close leading to the family's financial loss.
Alleged victim's condition described
The man charged with kidnapping and raping a young French woman in Limerick last year denied the allegations when interviewed by gardaí but also suggested she might have led him on.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court also heard a man who called gardaí for the alleged victim describe her condition when he met her in the early hours of the morning.
It was the third day of the trial of the 33-year-old accused who has denied five charges of false imprisonment, rape, rape by penetration of the anus, aggravated sexual assault and assault causing harm to the woman between August 15th and August 16th, 2003.