Man, 92, guilty of indecent assault on sisters in 1970s

A 92-year-old man from County Clare has been found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault against two sisters over half a century ago, in July 1973 to January 1975. The jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict after just over an hour and a half of deliberation. The two sisters, now in their early 60s, traveled from the US and Canada to give evidence in the trial.

The alleged assaults occurred when the sisters were aged nine or 10, and eight or nine. The perpetrator, who requires a mobility scooter, was between 39 and 40 years old at the time of the offences. The trial heard that the man paid €60,000 to the sisters in 2024 as part of a €70,000 civil settlement, with no admission of liability.

The accused has a previous conviction for indecent assault against a 13-year-old boy in 1985, for which he received a suspended sentence in 2011. The sisters lost both parents by the time they were five and four, and eventually came into the care of the accused and his wife in the early 1970s. The sisters lost contact with the accused after his wife passed away in late 2023, leading to the complaint being made to the police.