Dublin paedophile who abused three kids walks free after just seven months behind bars

Predator Iosach O Riain admitted the sexual abuse of the three children who were left with ‘lifelong problems’

A man jailed for sexually abusing three children walked free from prison this week after he was sentenced just last April for a sickening litany of assaults.

Iosach O Riain (62), who had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the victims, was given a nine month sentence at Dublin Circuit Court.

At his sentencing hearing, the three victims of the abuse told of the devastating effects O Riain’s abuse had on their childhoods and how it impacted them as adults.

O Riain, from Mount Eagle Rise, Leopardstown Heights, Dublin, served just under seven months behind bars, benefiting from the standard 25pc remission.

He emerged from the Midlands Prison clutching a plastic bag and still wearing the coat he wore when he appeared at the Courts of Criminal Justice. He was driven away by a friend.

The three victims, who did not want to be named in court, wanted O Riain’s identity published in the reporting of the case last April.

He had known all three children well.

He attacked a boy and a girl in separate cases in the late 1970s and another boy in 1995. They all reported the abuse to gardai in March 2020.

One, who was six when O Riain abused him, said in his victim impact statement that O Riain preyed on him and used him “as a commodity”.

He said he felt suffocated, powerless and fearful during the attacks.

He was asleep and woke up to what was a disgusting experience.

“My innocence and trust were taken away from me,” he said.

He said it affected his ability to relate to people and he turned to alcohol, drugs and violence to cope with anger, shame and despair – but is now sober and in therapy.

He said to O Riain: “You had no respect for the sanctity of my childhood, my safety or my body.”

The victim of the 1995 abuse told the court that he felt ashamed as a child, that he wasn’t brave enough to tell someone what O Riain had done.

He said the abuse left him with lifelong problems with intimacy and if his wife touches him unexpectedly his instinct is to push her away.

He thanked gardai for their professionalism and compassion in their handling of the investigations.

In her statement, the woman said the abuse she suffered as a child resulted in self-destructive behaviour.

While feeling compassion for O Riain, she said in court that “there has to be consequences” for his actions.

His defence lawyer said O Riain had a traumatic childhood in a family home affected by violence, alcohol abuse and constant fear. She said O Riain was a child when his alcoholic mother would get him to buy drink for her.

He had also reported that when he was a child an older relative sexually assaulted him.

By the age of 11 he was stealing his mother’s vodka, and was drinking to the point of blacking out by the age of 14.

In 1998 he gave up alcohol and began attending counselling with One In Four.

It was also heard how he had written letters of remorse to each of the victims who all refused to accept them.

At a previous hearing last November, O Riain pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the young girl in her family home in Dublin on dates around 1978 and 1979 when she was seven.

He also admitted sexually assaulting a boy at around the same time when the boy was aged around six and when O Riain was around 19.

The court heard that on two occasions in 1978 he attacked this boy in his bed and forced him to perform a sexual act on him.

O Riain also pleaded guilty to attacking another boy in the summer of 1995 when he would have been in his mid-30s.

The night after a family funeral he went to the room of the 15-year-old boy and molested him. This victim later told gardai that he was terrified and lay there frozen, but when O Riain continued to assault him, the boy got up from the bed and left the room.

At the sentence hearing in April, Judge Orla Crowe imposed a sentence of 12 months on each count, having taken into account mitigating factors including O Riain’s lack of previous convictions, his early guilty pleas and a probation report which indicated that he was at a low risk of re-offending.

She suspended the final three months of the sentences on conditions, including that O Riain engage with the Probation Service for two years upon his release from custody. O Riain was also registered as a sex offender.

Found this interesting? Then check our main news page where you can find all articles related to Crypto, Crime, Darknet, Security and much more!