A convicted child abuser has been jailed for two and a half years for sexual assaults on a young boy 18 years ago.
Justice Michael White noted that Kevin Brazil (51) was first questioned about and admitted the abuse of this boy and another victim in 2002, but that inexplicably the then investigating garda did not send the file forward for prosecution.
Brazil molested the 12-year-old in his flat after coaxing him up with the promise of letting him use high-end electronic gadgets in the flat.
The victim told gardai that Brazil psychologically tortured him by threatening to tell his friends what had happened in the flat if he didn't come to the flat again and carry out further sexual acts.
The Central Criminal Court heard that in 2002 gardaí at Rathmines garda station questioned Brazil and he made admissions. This case and another case were investigated at that time but for some “inexplicable reason” no file was ever sent to the DPP, Superintendent Barry Walsh said.
Supt Walsh told Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, that when he began investigating allegations from a third victim years later he discovered the Rathmines cases. He said files on these cases should have went to the DPP for prosecution, but he was not in a position to say why this had not happened.
Suspended sentence
Last July Brazil received a fully suspended prison sentence of three years after he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to six counts of sexually assaulting a child in the city on unknown dates between April 1st, 2002 and June 30, 2002.
Brazil of Wainsfort Manor Grove, Terenure, Dublin subsequently pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the 12-year-old child on dates between May and August 2002 at a place in Dublin city.
Mr Justice Michael White set a sentence of five years but reduced this by half and said he was taking the delay in prosecuting these offences into consideration and the fact that if the case had been prosecuted at the time Brazil would likely have served his sentence by now.
The judge said he was also taking into consideration Brazil's co-operation with the investigation and his guilty plea.
Patrick Gageby SC, defending, told the court that his client had been working in a large supermarket and he lost his job after his convictions were publicised last July.
He has previous convictions for sexual assault of a minor in France on March 7th, 1995. In November 2004 he was jailed for two years for sexual assault.
Victim impact
In a victim impact report the victim stated that the abuse has left him with a life altering condition of anxiety and depression. He said before he met Brazil he was a happy child.
He said the depression now impacts on his family life and means he cannot live in the same house as his partner and their children. He said he turned to drug use for comfort after the abuse and ended up in prison.
“It's hard to see a time when anxiety or depression won't be a feature of my life,” he stated.
Mr Gageby said his client was now a mature man who is full of remorse for the actions he committed 18 years ago. He told the court that it was through no fault of his that the cases were not prosecuted at the time.
