This article is from page 13 of the 2008-05-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
SENTENCING of a Clare man for sexually abusing two of his daugh- ters has been adjourned, because he claimed he was not told by prison staff that probation officers had at- tended to assess him for a report. The 36-year-old man has been on remand in Wheatfield Prison and told his counsel Gerard Groarke BL that there are four men with the same
name as him in custody there. He suggested that this led to one of them being informed of the probation of- ficers’ attendance, rather than him.
He was remanded in custody last November after a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury convicted him on 10 counts of sexual assault on two of his daughters.
The offences occurred on dates from September 2001 to December 2004.
A probation officer told the court she had been advised there were four people in the prison with the same name as the man. She provided the prison staff with his address, date of birth, his prison number and the wing he was on.
She said she was informed a few minutes later that he was unwilling to attend a visit with her. She said she never met him face to face.
She said that another colleague
also attended at the prison to meet the man and got the same response from prison officers.
She agreed she “could not be sure that there was not a mistake on the other side”.
Judge Desmond Hogan said it was ‘a matter of no small regret” that he could not proceed with the case but added that it would be “foolhardy” to deal with the sentencing without a probation report.
He added that he was “very con- scious’ of the age of the accused’s victims and was “very anxious” to deal with the case soon.
Mr Groarke said his client was “ready, willing and able” to meet the Probation Service and had not re- fused to meet with the officers.
Judge Hogan adjourned the case and told Mr Groarke he wanted him to ascertain “how accurate your cli- ent’s instructions are’.