Mother whose three children raped by former partner criticises sentencing
Sonya McLean
A woman whose three children were raped and sexually abused by her former partner has said she cannot plead with other people similarly affected to come forward because “the justice system will let them down”.
Georgina Tuohey spoke from the body of the court while Brendan Cornally (51) was being sentenced at the Central Criminal Court for the rape and sexual assault of her two sons and the sexual assault of her daughter. Cornally will serve a total of 17 and a half years for these offences.
Ms Tuohey has indicated that she wishes to have Cornally named in reporting of the case and to be named herself in such reports but she does not want her children’s names published. Her children are now adults – with her twin sons aged 19 years old and her daughter 25 years old.
Cornally, of O’Brien Street, Tullamore, Co Offaly, was previously jailed for 10 years for the sexual abuse and rape of this victim’s brother on dates between 2015 and 2019. The boy was aged between 10 and 14 years old at the time.
He was then jailed for a further 21 months last July after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of their sister on dates between May 2012 and June 2014. She was aged between 13 and 15 years old at the time.
A trial date was set in relation to the third victim and the case was monitored to ascertain if this victim would be in a position to give evidence at trial with the help of assistance.
Guilty plea
Cornally ultimately pleaded guilty last December to four sample charges of rape of this victim on dates between April 2018 and August 2018. The boy was 13 years old at the time.
Cornally was serving a jail term of 11 years and nine months for the rape and sexual abuse of his victim’s brother and sister before he was sentenced to a further consecutive term on Monday.
Ms Justice Biggs said this third sentence must be consecutive to the other sentences, and as such, she must have regard “to the principle of totality” in sentencing Cornally.
She said as such she felt a global sentence of 20 years would be appropriate.
Ms Justice Biggs said that to incentivise Cornally’s rehabilitation and to ensure that the public are protected into the future, she would suspend the final two and half years of the sentence on strict conditions for five years.
“We are appealing that – that is a disgrace,” Ms Tuohey said from the body of the court as soon as the sentence was imposed.
“My children’s lives have been destroyed and altered for life. He should be kept out of plain sight,” she continued.
“He chose to systematically rape my children – my child with additional needs, who needs care for the rest of his life,” Ms Tuohey said, referring to her son who was the victim in the case before the court today.
The court heard previously that this victim was diagnosed with mild general learning difficulties and with mild autism as a younger child, but as Ms Tuohey stated in her victim impact statement for her son: “Before the abuse, he was a young man filled with positivity and creativity, with a remarkable ability to overcome challenges with grace and determination.”
It was accepted that the teenager’s condition deteriorated following his interview with specialist gardaí in 2019 and in the lead up to the court process, leading to him being “medically diagnosed and hospitalised with catatonia”. The court heard that the victim was effectively mute for 12 months and needed full-time care.
Ms Tuohey continued to speak from the body of the court after the sentence was handed down. She described the sentence imposed as “lenient” adding: “There is no deterrence.”
“I believed that our system was built on something stronger,” she said.
“There is nothing you could say to console me – the harm is done,” she continued.
“You are absolutely right; there is nothing I could ever say that would give you comfort,” Ms Justice Biggs replied, before she added, “But my job is to take a number of factors into account.”
She promised Ms Tuohey that she had taken the impact of Cornally’s actions on her son into account.
“I know you want me to reconsider, but I have really thought on these matters,” the judge continued.
Ms Tuohey said that Cornally was going to get support in prison and outside of prison to assist in his rehabilitation, “but nobody is giving rehabilitation to my children,” adding that it was on her to source those supports for her children – “this individual (Cornally) is getting all the supports”
“My family is destroyed – there is no justice,” she continued.
Ms Justice Biggs interjected and told Ms Tuohey that her children “have an extraordinary mother”.
Ms Tuohey said her children now have “to walk this earth”, knowing that the fact that this individual harmed them doesn’t really matter at all.
She said this was reflected in the “very, very lenient sentence” imposed on Cornally, adding: “It is a sad, sad day.”
“I have come to the conclusion that 20 years with two and half years suspended meets the case,” Ms Justice Biggs said, adding, “This is my decision”.
Ms Tuohey spoke of how she intended to speak to the press to plead with people to come forward, adding that she had been “very well minded and cared for by the police” but she said “the justice system will let them down – the legal system is below what it should be”.
“I am sorry you feel that way,” Ms Justice Biggs said. “I have a number of issues to take into consideration. Thank you for being here and for being part of the process and particularly for the impact evidence that you gave.”
Ms Tuohey outlined in a victim impact statement that she read at a sentence hearing last February that following the ultimate revelations of Cornally’s abuse on him, her son’s health declined to such an extent that he was “medically diagnosed and hospitalised with catatonia”.
She described this in her statement as “a condition which has rendered him frozen, locked deeply within his body, incapable of any movement and unable to carry out the most basic of human functions”.
She said for nearly a year, her son was mute, and his vocal cords and chest muscles weakened to the point of ineffectiveness. His face muscles also weakened, and he now struggles to communicate as he lacks the ability to project his voice.
“His current stage would see him staring at the ceiling with Baby Yoda in outstretched arms lifted to the sky whilst walking around in circles over and over again. He calls him Teddy, as he is at the mental age of three or four years old,” Ms Tuohey said.
She said her son had been diagnosed with mild autism as a younger child, but “before the abuse, he was a young man filled with positivity and creativity, with a remarkable ability to overcome challenges with grace and determination”.
“Although he had a diagnosis of mild general learning difficulties and mild autism, these labels never defined him. Instead, they became a testament to his incredible strength and resilience,” she continued.
She said her son has developed “a coping mechanism” to deal with the impact the abuse had on him.
“Every two days, his memory is wiped clean,” she said. She added that the only explanations his psychological team have given her is that “it’s a coping mechanism to withdraw from a society which holds the memories of pain, torture and unimaginable abuse…. the pain and trauma which he endures every day has forced him deeper into his autistic self”.
She said it has removed him from family, friends and “the prospects of the future that he once secured…. He is badly damaged.”
Referring to his condition following his release from the hospital, Ms Tuohey said her son has to be spoon-fed.
“He was unable to recognise, therefore, respond to food in his mouth. It would eventually liquidise and drool down the side of his mouth and down onto his clothes, resulting in him losing so much weight that muscle wastage was such that he became weak and unresponsive.”
“I had to keep moisture on his lips so he wouldn’t dehydrate as swallowing was imminently being replaced by tube feeding,” she said.
Ms Justice Biggs said on Monday that this victim was “an amazing young man”, referring to the fact that she met him and spoke with him before the sentence hearing in February.
She said, having met him and having viewed his interview with specialist gardaí in 2019, it is clear that he is “undoubtedly deteriorated”.
“He has communicative challenges, profound anxiety, causing him to go into himself, leading to a catatonic state. The anxiety has clearly been exasperated by the court process,” Ms Justice Biggs said.
She said having taken this into account, Cornally’s plea has actual real value in preventing the 19-year-old having to give evidence at trial.
She said the victim’s mother was “absolutely entitled to be extraordinarily proud of her son and herself”.
The judge said “the irony in the case” was the most significant aggravating factor in the case – the impact the abuse had on the teenager means that Cornally’s plea of guilty is the most valuable mitigating feature in the case.
She noted that Cornally had gained the trust of Ms Tuohey having first met each other through their involvement in the local boxing club.
She said they formed a relationship, but when that relationship ended, he continued “to exhibit a fatherly role”, helping to care for her children while she was at work.
“She was a working mother, and she believed she could trust him to care for her children,” Ms Justice Biggs said.
“That trust was unfortunately breached in a horrific way,” she added before she added that the boy had been abused in a room that was “one of squalor, damp, dark with filthy linen”.
She said Ms Tuohey had delivered a “powerful” victim impact statement on the effect the abuse had on her son.
“I have listened to his story – he no longer has the voice to describe the effects the crimes had on him,” Ms Justice Biggs said.
“Most importantly, in my view, is the fact that he already had so many challenges in his life and he was doing his best with absolute grace and stoicism to overcome these challenges and he (Cornally) took advantage of his vulnerability and abused him,” Ms Justice Biggs continued.
“The impact on him (the victim) simply can’t be quantified,” the judge said.
She set a headline sentence of 15 years before she imposed a term of eight years and three months.
This term is consecutive to the 11 years and nine months Cornally is currently serving. The final two and half years of the sentence was suspended on strict conditions.
Additional evidence of the case
Garda Lorna Scanlon told Conor Devally SC, prosecuting, at a hearing last February that Ms Tuohey contacted Tullamore Garda Station in 2018 when her other son informed her that he had been raped and sexually abused by Cornally.
Specialist interviews were carried after his brother convinced him to make a complaint and disclose that he had been raped by Cornally.
Gda Scanlon said that Ms Tuohey met Cornally when the boys were about six years old and lived with him for two years. They later separated, but he continued to keep contact with the family as he and Ms Tuohey had a child together.
The abuse occurred at Cornally’s home in Tullamore, which he shared with his elderly mother and bother.
The victim later recalled an introduction to sexualised behaviour by Cornally by him showing the child pornography.
Gda Scanlon said the victim later told specialist interviewers that Cornally promised to buy him a new Playstation as a “reward following the abuse”. The teenager later told gardaí that he never got that Playstation.
He later described incidents of rape and being made touch Cornally’s penis. He said this occurred while the other children were at school and he was alone with Cornally.
His brother backed up the victim’s account and said that he witnessed Cornally target and isolate his brother.
Cornally was arrested and interviewed in June 2019. He denied any wrong doing or any knowledge of the allegations.
Gda Scanlon told the court “he was not phased by it all”.
Cornally has no previous convictions and had previously acted as a carer for his elderly parents.
A record of the victim’s interview with specialist gardaí was handed into the court.
A psychotherapist who met with the teenager in 2019 also gave evidence during the sentence hearing.
She said the teenager was admitted to Tallaght Hospital last year as he had become withdrawn, was losing weight and “was seemingly shutting down”. It was at this point that he was diagnosed as being in a catatonic state.
She said that in 2019, when she first met the teenager, he was able to speak about the abuse during their sessions.
She said he later stopped speaking altogether, whereas previously, he was capable of initiating conversations.
The woman said there has been a recent improvement in the teenager but added that he will always need someone to protect his rights. A person who is aware of his fragilities and aware that he should not be further traumatised or triggered.
John Shortt SC, defending, said at the outset that his client wishes to confirm his apology for the horrific abuse he inflicted and the devastation it has caused the victim, his mother and siblings.
He asked the court to accept that his client’s plea of guilty in relation to this victim is of “immense value” and said it has brought an end “to the horrors they faced since the disclosure of the abuse in 2018”.
Mr Shortt also asked the court to take into account that the defence have not sought their own independent expert report into the current condition of the victim – or what may have led to his deterioration.
Counsel also asked the court to consider that the sentence imposed should “not be crushing” and the rehabilitation of the offender should also be factored into the sentence.
He said Cornally is taking classes in music, computers and taking part in stained glass workshops. He hopes to engage in the building better lives programme as soon as his sentence is imposed.
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.
