A school soccer coach has been found guilty of engaging in sexual acts with a teenage girl nearly 15 years ago.
The 61-year-old Dublin man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 30 counts of sexual assault, four counts of defilement, one count of rape and one count of anal rape on dates between September 2007 and February 2010.
The complainant in the case was aged between 15 and 18 at the time of the alleged offending, while the accused man was aged between 45 and 47.
On Tuesday, the jury in the trial returned unanimous guilty verdicts in relation to the four counts of defilement, which occurred on dates between August 2008 and January 2009, when the complainant was 16.
The jury found the man not guilty of rape and anal rape. He had been found not guilty in relation to the 30 counts of sexual assault by direction of the trial judge.
The jury had deliberated for just under five hours when it returned its verdicts.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked jurors for the time and attention they had given the case and excused them from jury service for the next five years.
She remanded the man in custody for sentence on November 4th.
In her opening address to the jury last week, Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, said the accused man worked as a soccer coach in the girl's school and became her team coach.
She said the man took the girl's phone number to contact her about sports matters, but over time the texts became “more personal”.
It was the State's case that the coach became “a big feature in her life” and started collecting her at night and driving her around, which progressed to sexual activity.
The jury heard the issue of consent does not arise in relation to the charges of defilement as it is an offence to engage in sexual intercourse with a person under 17.
The jury were also told the complainant would say the man raped her on two occasions.
In her direct evidence, the complainant said she was on a soccer team the man coached, and he asked for a phone number to keep in contact with the team.
She said she volunteered her number and, at first, his messages were all soccer-related. However, she said he started to call her, and they would regularly chat about their lives.
The complainant outlined that the man started bringing her and some of her teammates home after training. She said she was always the last to be dropped home.
She described how she started to go for drives with him around the winter of 2007/2008 when she was in fourth year in secondary school.
She said she told him his face was handsome on one occasion and afterward, he said he was flattered and that he had had feelings for her.
Drives
She said their phone calls became more sexually explicit, and he would ask her about her body. She said she did not like the language he used, describing some of it as “kind of disturbing”.
She described going for drives with him, during which the sexually explicit conversation continued. She said “sometimes I felt excited because I liked him, but other times I felt nervous, it was overwhelming at times.”
She said the man pulled the car into a laneway on one occasion, and they kissed for the first time. She said after this they started to engage in sexual touching.
The man started to talk about wanting to have sex with her, and she agreed to this in June 2008.
The first time they had sex was in the back seat of his car, the complainant told the court. The complainant said she was terrified and asked him to stop.
She said they had sex in the car at the same location on two other occasions. She also said they had sex in his car in an industrial estate.
She said they started to go to rented accommodation for sex from October 2009, where he allegedly raped her on one occasion. She also claimed he raped her anally on another occasion.
In cross-examination, John Fitzgerald SC, defending, said his client denies he ever took her on drives or had any sexual conversations when she was 16. The complainant said this statement was “not true”.
Mr Fitzgerald also put it to her that his client said a relationship started in late 2010, which lasted for six months, which she rejected.
The partner of the complainant gave evidence during the trial, saying she told him about the alleged abuse at the hands of her sports coach in 2012.
Denial
The accused was interviewed three times by gardaí, during which he denied having any sexual relationship with the complainant before she turned 18.
During interview, the man said he began a six-month sexual relationship with the girl when she was 18 and in college. He said the relationship fizzled out, and they stayed in contact until 2019.
Ms Murphy told jurors in her closing speech that they “must be satisfied that the complainant was under the age of 17 and that the accused knew she was under 17” to convict him of defilement.
She noted that the accused was the complainant's soccer coach and would have been aware of her age.
“I am suggesting that you have clear and cogent evidence that is clear and supported by other evidence,” Ms Murphy said. She told the jury: “There is significant corroboration of what the complainant said happened.”
In his closing speech, Mr Fitzgerald suggested there are “reasons why you might have doubt over the evidence”.
Mr Fitzgerald said to the jury: “If someone had raped you vaginally and anally, why would you take lifts off them for eight years?”
“Why would you go to breakfast with him and your sister?” and “Why would you put yourself in a car with him at all?” he asked.
He told the jury, they must “give the accused man the benefit of that doubt and acquit him”.
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.
