A former scout leader has been given a suspended sentence for the historic sexual assault of a teenager that occurred during a camping trip near Waterford.
In June 1976, a small group of teenage boys arrived in Waterford to be taken on a camping trip to nearby Cheekpoint by their scout leader. When the camp was set up, the scout leader – who is now in his 70s and cannot be named as it would identify his victim – called one of the boys into his tent and started tickling him, touching the fourteen-year-old boy inappropriately in the process.
The incident was not reported until 2013, when the victim – now aged 54 years – made a complaint to the gardaí. He claimed that the sexual assault resulted in him suffering nightmares, drinking excessively and taking anti-depressants for 28 years. It was also alleged his business had suffered as a result of the inappropriate actions of his former scout leader.
When questioned by the gardaí, the former scout leader – who has no previous convictions of any nature – admitted the sexual assault of a teenager and was charged with the offence. He subsequently resigned from his position on the board of management at UCC and was placed on the sexual offenders list – due to which he no longer has access to his grandchildren.
At the sentencing hearing at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Eugene O´Kelly heard the defence´s barrister describe the event as “an isolated incident from many years ago” for which the former scout leader was extremely sorry. He was also told that the former scout leader has already paid his victim more than €7,500 compensation for the sexual assault of a teenager.
Judge O´Kelly said he believed there was a “significant element of remorse” by the former scout leader and, initially sentencing him to twenty months in prison, the judge reduced the sentence to fifteen months to take into account that the sexual assault of a teenager took place more than forty years ago and was a one-off offence. He subsequently suspended the sentence for three years.