Judge tells court sexual assault of a child creates decades long 'time-bomb' in a victim
Gordon Deegan
A judge has imposed a three-year and nine-month prison term on a 65-year old Co Clare man for two sexual assaults carried out on a 12-year old girl 19 years ago.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed the 45-month prison term on former HSE hospital porter, Gerard Sheedy of Quin Gardens, Quin, Co. Clare for the “heinous and reprehensible crime’ of sexually assaulting a child.
After hearing the victim’s victim impact statement read out in court, Judge Comerford commented: “To commit an intrusive sexual assault against a child creates a time-bomb that has the potential to affect the victim for decades and decades.”
Judge Comerford said that the digital penetration perpetrated by Sheedy on the child “is a high level of degrading intrusion into the body of another".
Judge Comerford said that Sheedy was in a position of care and control over the child at the time.
In a Garda interview, when the allegation of sexual assault was put to Mr Sheedy by Det Garda Keith Taylor, Mr Sheedy replied that the allegations were totally untrue, commenting “I wouldn’t do that to a dog”.
Sheedy pleaded not guilty to the two counts of sexual assault on dates between January and May 2007 on the child at a Co Clare address, but was found guilty after a jury trial at Ennis Circuit Court in February.
After the jury returned their verdict, Sheedy voluntarily went into custody pending sentence.
The victim in the case was aged 12 or 13 at the time of Mr Sheedy’s offending.
Now aged 32, the woman was in court to hear Judge Comerford pass sentence on Mr Sheedy. Mr Sheedy and the woman are not related.
Counsel for Sheedy, Patrick Whyms BL said that his client accepted the verdict of the jury.
He said that Mr Sheedy volunteered to go into custody without any input from lawyers in February.
Whyms said that Sheedy has led an unimpeachable life apart from this offending and has always worked.
Whyms said that Sheedy is now a registered sex offender.
Whyms handed in references into court from Sheedy’s former supervisor at the HSE, where he had worked as a hospital porter and from his current employer.
Judge Comerford said that there were two instances of sexual assault, and it was not part of a campaign of serious offending and there was no particular evidence of grooming beforehand.
Judge Comerford said that there were no threats by Sheedy to the girl to keep quiet after the sexual assaults.
In relation to the testimonials handed into court on Sheedy’s behalf, Judge Comerford said all the testimonials indicate is that Gerard Sheedy is a good worker and has formed strong family connections of his own.
He said: "These testimonials don’t advance the position one way or another - someone who has no previous convictions and has worked all his life and I have taken that into account when sentencing.”
Judge Comerford said that the headline sentence indication was 52 months in prison and reduced the prison term to 45 months after mitigation was taken into account.
Judge Comerford imposed a concurrent 45-month prison term on Sheedy for each count.
Judge Comerford back-dated the prison term to February when Sheedy first went into custody.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
