This article is from page 14 of the 2013-02-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A FORMER judo instructor yesterday received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of indecent assault. Thomas Waters (68), with an address at Moore Street, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to the offences at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court.
The charges related to offences committed between April 1979 and March 1981. The court heard that Waters assaulted the boy, who was a member of his judo club in Ennis.
The abuse started when the boy was aged nine and consisted of the accused masturbating the victim and digitally penetrating his anus.
Sergeant Catriona Houlihan, who led the investigation of the case, told the court that the boy was also as saulted and shown pornographic material during an orienteering trip to Cratloe Wood.
The court heard that after the boy asked Thomas Waters to stop, he told him he would if the boy got his younger brother to take his place.
The victim made a full statement of complaint to gardaí in July 2011. Reading from a Victim Impact Statement, the man told the court that he was seduced by the image of Waters as a “strong and powerful man”. He added, “To me, he was the equivalent of Bruce Lee.”
The man said the abuse had a negative impact on his education and that he was prescribed anti-depressant medication at an early age. He told the court that he had “deep feelings of guilt and shame” for denying to his parents that Thomas Waters abused him.
The man said he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and finds it difficult to be in group situations. He said he would like to re-enter education but had been unable to do so.
He said, “This is a life sentence which I began as a child.” The man told the court that he did not want an apology as it would only be “insulting”. He thanked the Ennis Rape Crisis Centre, SHINE and the gardaí for the support they had given him.
Counsel for Waters, Mark Nicholas BL, told the court that the victim had been subject to a “series of outrageous activity which rightfully outrage people and rob people of their childhood.”
He urged the court to consider the accused’s behaviour in the intervening years and his guilty plea. Mr Waters is currently serving a four-year sentence for indecent assault.
Judge Carroll Moran said the accused’s guilty plea is important as it is an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and avoids imposing additional trauma on the victim. He said the fact that the nature of the abuse was of a continuous nature was “very serious”.
He imposed a two-year sentence, concurrent on all counts, to be served consecutively on the expiration of the sentence now being served. Tue05February13