A 78-YEAR-old Co Leitrim "substantial farmer" has been jailed for three years by Mr Justice Carney for sexually assaulting a teenage niece 35 years ago.
However, Mr Justice Carney directed that the activation of the sentence should be postponed for a week to see if £15,000 compensation which had been offered to the victim was forthcoming. If that was done, he would suspend the sentence.
He said the victim and her family had strongly urged the court not to imprison the defendant as they did not want his wife to suffer. While the court would seek to give effect to that appeal, the crime was a public one.
The defendant pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault of the woman between 1963 and 1966. He cannot be named for legal reasons and had no other convictions.
Mr Justice Carney said he would not be dissuaded by a defendant's age from jailing him. He had previously sentenced elderly defendants for long terms and having inspected the facilities provided for them in the Curragh he was satisfied a suitable and humane regime existed.
He had adjourned the hearing for a short time because he was anxious to ensure that the victim had a full choice regarding the compensation offered and in knowing it might have a bearing on the jailing of the defendant.
The advice coming to him in these cases was that quite often jail for the perpetrator played a large part in the victim's recovery.
Mr Justice Carney was told the victim was in her early teens when she came to the defendant's home to look after an elderly relative so that his wife could continue to work. The offences, which involved indecent touching, took place in the kitchen and bedroom.
The victim was not well versed in the facts of life. She was scared by the man's actions and not able to tell anyone for many years. She had been severely traumatised and suffered mental anguish for more than 30 years.
Mr Justice Carney also noted there were civil proceedings in the High Court regarding the matter and the papers involved a lot of work by solicitors on both sides. There was the possibility the civil proceedings might fail due to the statue of limitations.
Mr John Phelan SC, defending, said his client had instructed him to make a full apology to his victim in court. He had a "very strong belief" the man's wife was not fully aware of the details of the offending.
Mr Phelan said the care and love she had given her husband for more than 40 years had been thrown back in her face by him on more than one occasion. Her only concern still was for his welfare.
He said the defendant was not offering the compensation to try to bribe his way out of a jail sentence.
Despite his offending, he was a man with a high moral sense of right and wrong. He had lived with the horror of what he had done and was aware his victim had gone through severe trauma.
Mr Phelan said the court was dealing with him for something he had done more than 30 years ago. He suggested that, on the contents of the book of evidence, a case might have failed before a jury.