Guilt-ridden paedophile confessed to abusing four-year-old girl

A guilt-ridden paedophile went to a garda station to confess that he had sexually abused a four-year-old girl nine years earlier, a court has heard.

Former bus driver Ciaran Colgan (56), of Gleann Na hEorna, Springfield, Tallaght, told officers at Crumlin Garda station that he had abused the girl on three different occasions in 2001 to 2003.

Garda Ruth O’Sullivan told Ennis Circuit Court that in 2010 Mr Colgan identified the child by name and admitted sexually assaulting her.

“He indicated to colleagues that he didn’t wish to make a statement but if a complaint was ever made, that he would admit to everything,” she said.

Colgan left the garda station as there was no complaint against him at that time.

Four years later he offended again when he posed as a 16-year-old boy on Facebook and sent sexually explicit messages to a 12-year-old girl.

Garda O’Sullivan said that earlier this year Colgan received a four-year jail term at Cavan Circuit Court with the final 2½ years suspended for sexual exploitation of the girl, who he never met.

In the current case, Colgan pleaded guilty to three separate counts of sexual assault on the young girl.

The victim last year went to a garda station to make formal complaints.

When interviewed, Colgan told gardaí, “I am very sorry.”

Colgan abused the girl on three occasions, the court heard.

In her victim impact statement, the now young woman said she came forward and put “myself in this complicated and sensitive process mainly to ensure the protection of other children but also as closure for myself so that I continue to heal and better myself.

“I was such a young girl in a vulnerable situation and I was used for pleasure by an adult I was expected to respect,” she said.

“At the age of five, I didn’t have the words to describe how I was feeling but now I do.”

The woman said she had grown up feeling different from the children around her.

“I remember feeling disgusted and ashamed of myself for what happened, which I see is a massive burden to carry.”

Counsel for Colgan, Andrew Sexton SC, said his client was fully apologetic.

Judge Gerard Keys remanded Colgan in custody for sentencing next Tuesday.