This article first appeared on Galway Bay FM
A Galway man has been jailed for the “persistent and deplorable” pattern of sexual abuse against a girl 50 years younger than him.
Sean Kinneavy (74) was also directed to pay €38,000 in compensation to cover losses suffered by the victim and her mother.
Kinneavy, of Bother Bui, Carraroe, Co. Galway was convicted of 47 counts of sexual assault and two of rape using an object following a trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The victim indicated she wished for Kinneavy to be named, but to maintain her anonymity.
The offending took place on dates between January 2013 and June 2018 at locations in Co. Dublin and Co. Galway.
Kinneavy was aged between 62 and 67 at the time of the offending, while the victim was then aged between 10 and 15.
He does not accept the verdicts of the jury and maintains his innocence.
The court heard that Kinneavy was well-known to the girl’s family and was a regular visitor to their home in Dublin.
The victim told gardai she estimated Kinneavy sexually abused her whenever he visited, around once a month.
The abuse included inappropriate touching and digital penetration.
She said he described the touching as ‘massages’ and that he told her to rub her ear as a code if she wanted a massage and they were around other people.
Kinneavy also sexually abused the girl and raped her twice at his home in Galway during the summer of 2017 while she was staying there.
On one occasion, Kinneavy’s wife saw him coming out of the girl’s bedroom, and he told her he’d been watching the child use her iPad.
The abuse came to light in 2020 when the girl’s mother found a note which referred to it while the victim was hospitalised for mental health difficulties.
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice David Keane said the aggravating factors include the breach of trust and the impact on the injured party, who was then a “vulnerable child”.
He said the rape offences took place “against a background of persistent offending over a protracted period of time”.
The judge said these were “persistent deplorable crimes” against a child by an adult in a position of trust.
Mr Justice Keane said the use of a code gesture “suggests a degree of a cynical planning” and that the offending was “very far from capitulation” to an impulse.
The judge noted that Kinneavy continues to maintain his innocence as is his right, but this means that no apology, expression of remorse or efforts to rehabilitate have taken place.
He said the mitigation taken into account by the court was Kinneavy’s age and his previous good character.
Mr Justice Keane said the court had considered seven testimonials submitted on behalf of Kinneavy, but that these “carry little weight in the circumstances of this case”.
He said Kinneavy’s offending was “not isolated incidents which might said to be out of character”, but involved multiple offences repeated over several years.
He said Kinneavy was “exploiting his outward respectability to satisfy his predilections”.
The judge noted that Kinneavy is assessed at low to medium risk of re-offending by the Probation Services.
Mr Justice Keane imposed a sentence of nine years on Kinneavy in relation to the rape offences and a concurrent eight-year sentence for the sexual assaults, backdating the sentence to November last when Kinneavy went into custody.
He also imposed a two-year post-release supervision order on Kinneavy.
The court previously heard that the girl was interviewed by specialist gardai in early 2021.
Kinneavy was interviewed by gardai in June 2021, but nothing of evidential value was obtained.
He has no previous convictions.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Jane Murphy BL, prosecuting, the victim said the impact of Kinneavy’s offending on her was “immeasurable” and described how her childhood was “shattered”.
She said she “lost her spark”, became a shell of herself and felt unsafe at home. She noted she will never know the life she “could and should have had” if the abuse had not occurred.
She said her family “trusted Sean implicitly”, but he left a “path of destruction” in their lives.
The investigating garda agreed with Conor Devally SC, defending, that his client has no previous convictions and a long work history in construction.
Seven testimonials, a governor’s report and a probation report were handed to the court.
Mr Devally asked the court to take into account his client’s health issues, some work history, and involvement in charity and community initiatives.
Mr Devally noted that his client does not accept the verdicts of the jury, but instructs that he wishes that the victim will “progress well” in her future.
In her victim impact statement, the injured party said her mother took time off work between 2020 and 2021 to care for her and as a result, the family lost around €24,000 in income.
She also estimated petrol costs of €10,000 since 2019 as her mother would take her for drives to help with her anxiety and medical and counselling costs of €4,000.
She said her family’s finances had been drained and she carried a “financial burden that someone my age should not have to carry, especially at the hands of someone else”.
Mr Justice Keane indicated during a previous hearing that the court was prepared to make a compensation order under section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 in relation to the financial losses outlined in the victim impact statement.
The judge said he had regard to Kinneavy’s circumstances in making the order, noting that he has not worked in many years, has a small pension, and an interest in his family home.
Mr Justice Keane today confirmed the compensation order, directing Kinneavy to pay €34,000 to the victim’s mother and €4,000 to the victim.
Mr Justice Keane noted that any shame in this case rests with the convicted man, not with the victim.
He commended her for her dignity and fortitude during the criminal process and wished her well for the future.
