Seventy-year-old convicted of sexually molesting girls
Judge found complainants’ testimony compelling
A 70-year-old man has been convicted of sexually molesting young girls more than three decades ago.
Reginald Joseph O’Keefe was convicted Friday in Newfoundland Supreme Court in St. John’s of all six counts of indecent assault, as it was called in the Criminal Code decades ago.
Four women came forward to police a few years ago, accusing O’Keefe of sexually assaulting them when they were children. One said she was as young as six years old at the time.
The incidents were said to have happened in two locations — one in Labrador and the other on the island — over three decades, between 1967 and 1981. The names of the locations cannot be named to protect the identities of the complainants.
During his trial — which began in May and finished in July — O’Keefe adamantly denied ever touching the girls and said he never even had the opportunity to be put in the position to do anything like that.
But Justice Garrett Handrigan didn’t believe him, noting the evidence against him was overwhelming.
“The complainants could not be mistaken about him and I have no reason to think they are lying about him,” he said.
“Mr. O’Keefe’s claims of lack of opportunity to commit the offences are as hollow as his denials.”
The judge said the complainants were direct and compelling in their testimony and were credible and trustworthy witnesses.
“They were understandably vague on some of the details of the incidents … but they did not waiver on who assaulted them, where it happened, what Mr. O’Keefe did and how they reacted to his attacks,” Handrigan said.
“I accept their testimony and find that it proves the charges against Mr. O’Keefe beyond a reasonable doubt.”
O’Keefe is representing himself after firing his lawyer, Richard Deveau, early in the trial. Prosecutor Dana Sullivan argued the case for the Crown.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 2.
O’Keefe has been jailed in the past for sexually assaulting a young girl. In November 2012, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl and sexual interference. He was sentenced to a one-year jail term.