GAA caretaker pleads guilty to 140 child sex charges

A FORMER caretaker at a GAA ground has pleaded guilty to more than 140 charges of sexual assault, child exploitation, and the possession and production of child pornography, RTÉ has reported.

Judge Keenan Johnson said the sexual abuse carried out by the man at the GAA grounds in the midlands was disturbing, distasteful and absolutely horrific. The judge was speaking during a sentencing hearing at Longford Circuit Court yesterday.

The man admitted his guilt when he was confronted by gardaí and pleaded guilty to all charges against him last November.

It was said that the 63-year-old filmed himself in dressing rooms while he was sexually assaulting a seven-year-old child.

The court also heard that a European arrest warrant has been issued for another man who is wanted by gardaí in connection with the allegations of the sexual assault and exploitation of children at the same GAA sports grounds.

The court was told by a Garda detective sergeant that there was no evidence of a paedophile ‘ring’ but that the two men both worked there and knew of each other’s activities, an RTÉ reporter said.

The court was told the caretaker struck up a friendship with four children, one of whom came to play at the GAA grounds while he was mitching from school there. The caretaker gave the four children odd jobs to do at the grounds, and the abuse took place while they were there. The abuse of one child started when the boy was just seven years old.

The child was repeatedly sexually assaulted in a dressing room and on the pitch. The caretaker filmed the abuse, which went on over an eightyear period and sometimes on a daily basis.

A detective investigating the case said that when complaints were made, gardaí got a warrant and searched the caretaker’s home in 2013. There, they found evidence of child pornography, and five films of one of the children who was abused.

The caretaker’s sentencing has been adjourned until June 1 so that further evidence of his psychiatric condition can be made available to the court.

Second man is also sought