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Trial collapses of teacher charged with sexual exploitation
The trial of a teacher charged with the sexual exploitation of a pupil over an eight-month period, came to an abrupt end last week when the girl admitted to a jury that it had never happened.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied eight charges of using a child for sexual exploitation, by inviting, inducing or coercing the child to engage in sexual, indecent or obscene acts, contrary to Section 3 (2) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998, on dates between December, 2011, and July, 2012.
The alleged offences came to light when the girl went to her school principal, accompanied by her parents on June 27, 2012 and made a complaint about the teacher.
The girl, who is now aged 20, told a jury of six men and six women at Galway Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday that the man had taught her for the three-year junior cycle at and when she was in third year, then aged 15, he asked to ‘friend’ her on Facebook.
She agreed and after that she gave him her phone number.
The young woman sobbed as she told the trial the man regularly texted her and he would pick her up at weekends in his car. She said he would give her bottles of Buckfast, cigarettes and phone credit.
She claimed that he brought her to isolated locations where he would perform a sexual act on himself or get her to do it for him.
Under cross-examination by Garnet Orange, SC, defending, the witness admitted she was drinking heavily and her parents were having difficulties controlling her when she was 15.
She admitted that while drunk on one occasion she went off in a van with a group of men she didn’t know and her friends were worried about her.
She also admitted, during cross-examination that she had asked the teacher to send her a friend request on Facebook and she regularly texted him to meet her for the purpose of getting alcohol, cigarettes or money from him.
Mr Orange said the witness had asked his client to send her a friend request and he foolishly did that.
“Some time after that you and he became a little bit closer. He started confiding in you even though at the time he was in his late forties and you were 15. That was odd but you learnt a lot about his family circumstances.
“He was a shy, quiet man who was going through a lot at the time and was drinking a lot. He told you that he needed help and you later described him to Gardai as a shy and nervous man and a bit ‘innocent’ and he befriended you,” Mr Orange put to the witness.
During further cross-examination the witness said she could not remember exact dates or the frequency of the alleged incidents in the man’s car because she was drunk at the time.
Mr Orange put it to her that she was blackmailing his client. He said his client and the girl had started kissing once but it had been a very brief incident. He said that was all that happened between them and that the girl had begun to blackmail his client so that she could have a regular supply of alcohol, cigarettes, cash and phone credit.
“You contacted him whenever you needed alcohol or phone credit and he would just drive to meet you and hand out two bottles of Buckfast and then just drive away,” Mr Orange said.
“Yeah,” she replied.
The girl claimed she would go on some occasions with the accused in his car “as part of the transaction” and perform a sexual act on him.
“After this happened the first time, why did you get back into his car a second or third time?” Mr Orange asked.
“Because I was getting free drink,” she replied sobbing.
Mr Orange put it to her that her sister became concerned when she noticed she had more money than she should have had.
The witness agreed the money had come from the accused.
“The two of you started to kiss and it was all a very, very brief incident and that was the extent of if and I suggest that is the reason all of his happened.
“You had this thing over him,” Mr Orange said.
“I was only 15,” the woman sobbed.
“We all know that but perhaps, you were a lot more worldly-wise than a lot of 15-year-olds,” Mr Orange put to her.
The girl admitted she could have once said to the accused: “If you get me drunk, I’ll ride you.”
Mr Orange conceded she might not have intended to do that, but that had been the expression she had used.
Mr Orange said his client started to refuse to get alcohol for the girl on the fifth occasion they met and he put it to the witness that she got “nasty” after that.
“You told him, ‘I’ll make you pay for what you did to me,’ didn’t you?” he said.
“I could have done,” the witness replied.
“The awfulness of what had happened became apparent to him; that you knew you had him ‘over a barrel’. You had his neck in a noose and the only question was, when were you going to pull the lever?
“Even after the meeting with the school principal in June 2012, you were sending my client ‘call me’ text messages but he just wanted ‘out’.
He was buying you drink, cigarettes and phone credit and was so tormented he even gave you cash.
“You and your friends decided to have this eejit to come any weekend, at the drop of a hat, and give you drink and cigarettes and leave after a couple of minutes and this situation carried on until June 2012 to your benefit
“Then, your sister found out about it and it all kicked off from there and that was the end of ‘the gravy train’,” Mr Orange put to the witness.
“You were blackmailing him but the only thing that happened between you was that one kiss.”
Mr Orange said to the witness that his client did accept he had behaved “extremely badly” and that he should never have engaged in such contact with a pupil.
“But he saw you as a shoulder to cry on, not withstanding the age difference. He took you to be a friend and he never asked you to perform sexual acts,” Mr Orange said.
“I’m accepting it never happened,” the witness replied to the surprise of everyone present.
Judge Rory McCabe immediately sent the jury home for the night and on Thursday morning, Mr Shane Costelloe SC, prosecuting, said – in the absence of the jury – the DPP was withdrawing all eight charges against the accused and wished to enter a nolle prosequi in the matter.
Judge McCabe told the jurors the trial was not proceeding any further and he discharged them.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
