Sonya McLean
Former international swimming coach and serial child abuser Derry O’Rourke has been jailed for ten years for the rape and sexual assault of a young teenager 35 years ago.
O’Rourke (78) of Virgina Road, Cavan, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of rape and 15 counts of indecent assault in a Leinster school the girl attended on dates between October 1989 and June 1990.
The complainant was between 13 and 14 years old at the time.
He was convicted of one count of rape and 11 charges of sexual assault which involved touching the child’s breast and digitally penetrating her vagina. The jury returned the unanimous verdict following a six-day trial.
Earlier in the trial, four of the indecent assault charges were removed from the indictment.
The court heard that O’Rourke singled the girl out as a potential member of his swim team at the school and set up an individual training schedule for her. He abused her in a room off the pool, known as the float room, on the pretext of carrying out muscle checks.
Following the rape, the teenager never returned to swimming, despite having previously trained five times a week.
This woman’s case is the only case that O’Rourke has contested. His previous convictions, which first involved a jail term in 1998, all stemmed from guilty pleas in relation to over 19 children.
The offences dates range from 1970 to 1992 and O’Rourke was ultimately released from prison in March 2007.
He first received a 12-year jail term in 1998 relating to 29 charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and unlawful carnal knowledge against 11 children between 1976 and 1992.
From the same investigation, he subsequently pleaded guilty to 19 charges of indecent assault of six further children between 1970 and 1992 and was sentenced to a concurrent term of four years.
In 2005, O’Rourke was jailed for ten years for rape and indecent assault dating back to 1975, but it could not be confirmed how many victims this involved. This sentence was backdated to March 13th, 2000.
Finally, in 2008 additional complaints of indecent assault dating back to 1979 led to a three-year suspended sentence.
At a sentencing on Wednesday, Justice Melanie Greally referred to O’Rourke’s previous convictions and described him as “a serial child abuser”.
She said his apology to the victim for contesting the case “rings hollow”.
Ms Justice Greally addressed the woman in court and praised the manner in which she had conducted herself throughout the trial. “I wish you well for the future,” she said.
Ms Justice Greally said the aggravating features in the case included the duration of the offending, the persistence of the offending, the fact that the victim was a child, that O’Rourke abused his position of authority, that the offending involved pre-meditation and grooming, that she was violated in an environment of supposed safety and that he had exposed the young teenager to the risk of pregnancy.
She said there were only two mitigating factors of “real substance”, being O’Rourke’s advanced age and his poor health.
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.
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