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A CONVICTED PAEDOPHILE has been jailed for three and a half years for sexually assaulting a one-year-old baby who had been left in his care while her parents went out drinking.
Michael O’Brien (46) committed the abuse against a backdrop of severe neglect and physical abuse by the child’s parents.
The court heard there was no clean clothes, electricity or food in the house at the time, although food was kept in the freezer for when social workers came for inspections.
Last month, O’Brien was released from a twelve-year sentence imposed in 2008 for the sexual abuse of two children who were under the age of six. In 1993, he was jailed for four years for the aggravated sexual assault of a 60-year-old woman during a burglary of her home.
Describing the assault as “a vile and monstrous act” against a child whose parents had failed in their duties, Judge Sarah Berkeley said O’Brien had undergone treatment programmes in prison to lessen his chance of re-offending in future, but he needed to do more.
Pleaded ‘not guilty’
Suspending 18 months of a five-year jail term, she ordered that he continue to undergo treatment in prison and cooperate with the probation services on his eventual release.
O’Brien with a last address in County Limerick pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the baby at her home in the west of Ireland between April 2005 and October 2006. He was convicted by a jury earlier this year.
During an earlier sentencing hearing, a local garda told prosecuting counsel Anne Rowland BL that when the baby was born her parents brought her home, handed her to her 10-year -old sister and told her that she had to look after her.
The older sibling told gardaí that on many occasions she returned home to find the baby in a car seat in front of the television while the parents were out drinking.
Fear
In 2005 the parents returned to the house drunk with O’Brien. From then on O’Brien regularly stayed in the house and babysat the children.
The older sister told the trial that she was afraid of O’Brien and would lock her and her siblings in a room when he was there.
One day she came home and found O’Brien sexually assaulting the baby in the sitting room by digitally penetrating her. The baby was naked at the time. The ten-year-old grabbed a poker and hit O’Brien, telling him to get away from her sister.
When the children’s mother returned home she beat the 10-year-old with the poker as punishment for hitting O’Brien. The child was too afraid to tell her mother about the sexual abuse.
Neglect and abuse
The children were later taken into care where the older sister told gardaí about the sexual assault while detailing the neglect they faced in the house.
A foster parent for the children told the trial that most of them were not toilet trained and they did not know how to use cutlery or a toothbrush.
An examination of O’Brien’s victim showed apparent physical evidence of the sexual abuse and O’Brien was arrested and interviewed. He admitted babysitting the children sometimes but denied sexual abuse.
Judge Berkeley said that the apparent physical harm had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be caused by the abuse, so she could not take it into consideration when passing sentence.
Previous convictions
Defence counsel Geraldine Fitzpatrick SC said her client now accepts the verdict of the jury. She said O’Brien left school early and worked steadily as a butcher and farm labourer. She said he has no contact with most of his family since his previous conviction.
Ms Fitzpatrick asked Judge Berkeley to consider “the light at the end of the tunnel principle” and allow O’Brien a chance to rehabilitate himself for his eventual release.
She also asked the judge to consider the social stigma and publicity associated with the sexual abuse cases but conceded this was a lesser mitigating factor for someone with O’Brien’s convictions.
All the “Hamas” bots seem to be missing when it comes to denouncing Islamists when it comes to kidnapping of Women and Children. Double standards from the left and Islamic ideologies.
Hope international attention leads to the children and women being found. Thanks Journal for highlighting it.
@Oliver Cleary: I don’t think you’ll find anyone that supports such actions.
Nice try at deflection, though.
No, care to condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity?
Crimes it has been committing since it first stole the homeland of the Palestinian.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: I’ll engage when you use your real name. Stop hiding behind a pseudonym. You do not merit honest discussion because you are in essence dishonest
@Oliver Cleary: What you mean you find yourself unable to condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity.
Why does any pseudonym prevent you from doing that?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: “since it first stole the homeland of the Palestinian” showed your cards there, you obviously have zero understanding of the conflict
@Etcher: @Etcher: What do I not understand?
If people claiming to be descendants of Irish who left these shores long ago illegally moved back here, established terrorist groups, attacked us, drove us out of our homes, off our lands and out of our towns and villages, attacked and overthew our government and established their own state here, then what would be different about what the colonial Israeli settler has done to the Palestinian?
And what do you think we would do about it?
And wouldn’t we be right?
Now would you like to tell us your understanding?
It is not cool enough to be seen to be concerned about what happens in Nigeria.
@Sun Rise: Since when? It’s a scandal that they can’t protect their schoolchildren. Similar happened in Italy years ago, it was rife. All for money mostly.
@Sun Rise: What a dump of a country
@Etcher: There aren’t that many books available here that give an insight into life in Nigeria, or West Africa even.
But an author that does have a few books on the shelves is Oyinkan Braithwaite, and her novel My Sister, the Serial Killer is worth the read.
But this is based in a city (Lagos perhaps, I can’t remember), and does not touch on rural Nigerian life, much less the life of those in the northern parts that are subject to much of this terrorism.
You have to admire these brave Jihadists on their dangerous military operations. One of the school children might throw their schoolbag at them, causing scratches!
@Brian Hunt: As brave as the Israelis, would you say?
Horrendous for these children & their families. Hope they are reunited soon & not abused or trafficked, like the 14 year who went missing from Tulsa
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