A man has told a court that the abuse he suffered as a young child broke him as a boy and as a man until he finally found help.
Alan Dunne waived his anonymity in order to have his abuser, 74-year-old Bernard Swaine, named.
Swaine was convicted by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 31 counts of indecent assault following a six-day trial last January. Judge Orla Crowe sentenced him to six years in prison.
Swaine of Ballyneety Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault on dates between 1983 and 1986. He had one previous conviction for assault which dated back to 1968.
Mr Dunne was aged between seven and ten years old at the time. Swaine was 26 years older.
Mr Dunne told the jury during the trial that on the first incident of abuse he was staying the night in Swaine’s home when he got behind him in a bed and anally raped him.
He recalled regularly visiting Swaine’s home afterwards and said Swaine would abuse him by touching his genitals while he masturbated. He said this pattern of behaviour went on for about three years.
Garrett McCormack BL prosecuting told the court that the first offence relates to the first incident while the remaining counts were sample charges which represented the continued abuse on a regular basis.
Victim impact statement
Mr Dunne (48) read his own victim impact statement to the court, which said: “How do you measure the impact of rape and sexual abuse can have on a person and then imagine that abuse is being perpetrated against a child”.
“To say it crushes your soul and well-being is an understatement”.
“Your mind never lets you forget, and that is the kicker”.
“The abuse took everything from me. It broke me as a boy, and it broke me as a man until I finally found help”.
Mr Dunne described how he has suffered from “depression, anxiety, and self-loathing which I put on myself for not speaking up sooner”.
He said, “I really would not be here today if it weren’t for my wife and children”.
Mr Dunne told Swaine, “You took the most precious thing – you took my childhood, and I will never get that back”.
Passing the sentence on Wednesday, Judge Crowe praised the “eloquence” of what Mr Dunne had described as his “survivor statement”.
She acknowledged evidence that as a child Mr Dunne “had complicated feelings” for Swaine.
Before the abuse, he had found Swaine to be “jovial, friendly and engaged with children” and in the aftermath of the abuse he remained in contact with him due to complicated feelings of what he said was “a sense of love and fear”, the judge said.
Judge Crowe said that through therapy Mr Dunne now understands that at the time he was desperate for a father figure which led to him staying in touch with Swaine.
Feelings of dispair
The judge further acknowledged that the abuse “took everything” from Mr Dunne and left him with feelings of despair and self-loathing. She said his statement was “the most eloquent description of the impact on this man who was a blameless and innocent child at the time”.
Judge Crowe said Swaine’s crimes represented “a wholesale violation of a child’s bodily integrity” adding that it had long-term serious implications for Mr Dunne.
She said Swaine had “insinuated himself into the confidence of this child and his parents” and had created a situation where Mr Dunne could stay in his home. She said Swaine had abused the trust placed in him “repeatedly and regularly”.
Judge Crowe said the abuse had “far reaching and deeply serious” consequences for Mr Dunne whom she had “shown considerable dignity” in the way he dealt with the case.
She accepted Mr Dunne had “strived to escape” the memories of the abuse but had to overcome this to ultimately report Swaine to the gardaí.
She accepted evidence from Garnet Orange SC defending that Swaine will have to forgo the council house he had lived in all his life if incarcerated and that he suffers from many medical conditions.
Judge Crowe also accepted that Swaine has suffered psychiatric difficulties as result of the case.
She said the seriousness of the case must be marked by the imposition of a considerable custodial sentence before she noted that the maximum sentence available to the court was 10 years.
Judge Crowe said a headline sentence of nine years was appropriate for the first offence in the case and reduced this sentence to six years having taken into account Swaine’s mitigating and personal circumstances.
She imposed concurrent terms of four and half years for the remaining offences, having set an initial headline sentence of six years for these counts.
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.
