AT LEAST 29 people were sexually abused by sports coach Bill Kenneally, according to a Waterford garda chief superintendent.

Chief Supt Anthony Pettit told the Commission of Investigation that a review of the case, which saw 150 witness statements taken across three separate investigations, produced the figure.

He said he was “satisfied” that the number of victims is at least 29.

Last May, Kenneally received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for abusing five boys on unknown dates between December 1979 and March 1990. He was aged between his 20s and 40s when carrying out the abuse.

The 72-year-old accountant, from Laragh, Summerville Avenue, Waterford, had already been serving a 14-year sentence for abusing 10 boys from 1984 to 1987.

The 15 victims from those two cases were among the 29 identified by investigators.

Out of a grouping of 20 additional witnesses identified by investigators, Petitt believes some “may have been subject to abuse” by Kenneally.  

He told the inquiry that other people who were approached by gardaí were either “unable or declined to make statements” to gardaí.

The commission, chaired by Mr Justice Michael White in the Law Library in Dublin, is examining allegations of collusion between An Garda Síochána, the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, the former South Eastern Health Board, Basketball Ireland.

Its scope also includes unnamed “political figures” who may have prevented Kenneally from being arrested and charged at an earlier stage.

As part of its work, the inquiry is examining separate garda investigations in 1987 and 2012. Both investigations have faced criticisms from some of the victims over beliefs that Kenneally could have been charged much earlier.

Gardaí have confirmed they were aware of the abuse in 1987 but decided not to charge him, while Bill Kenneally’s cousin, former Fianna Fáil Brendan Kenneally, told a Sunday newspaper that he became aware in 2002 and sought medical help for his relative.

The commission was formed following a campaign by survivors into the handling of complaints of sexual abuse against the former basketball coach Bill Kenneally.

Cousin’s knowledge

Petit defended how gardaí approached information related to Bill Kenneally’s cousin Brendan Kenneally.

Under cross-examination by Barra McGrory, barrister for one group of victims, Petit was asked whether gardaí should have done more with information about when Brendan Kenneally knew of his cousin’s abusing. 

Brendan Kenneally was approached by a victim’s wife in 2002 and, according to a statement the woman gave gardaí in 2016, the former TD told her he had already been “dealing” with gardaí on his cousin’s abuse of children.

McGrory said there was a “contradiction” as the woman’s statement appeared to show that Brendan Kenneally knew about his cousin earlier than claimed. 

Asked why gardaí didn’t do more with the information, Pettit said that if Brendan Kenneally had in “some way convinced them [victim in 2002] not to go to the guards, then I think we’re in an issue, but it appears clear that the victims didn’t want to go the gardaí”.

When asked by the barrister whether he was “suspicious of Brendan Kenneally in terms of withholding information”, Pettit said that phrasing was “too strong” and added that gardaí should have been informed in 2002.

“I have to careful here because I’m viewing this in hindsight 20 years on, but yes, he should have come forward,” Pettit said.

Brendan Kenneally is due to give evidence later this week.

Former acting chief superintendent Sean Cashman, who oversaw the 1987 investigation, has previously insisted that there was no cover-up and that gardaí did the best they could do at the time, citing a lack of victims coming forward to make statements.