Tralee man avoids jail for teen sex assault on cousin

A TRALEE man has received a suspended prison sentence for the sexual assault of his younger female cousin when he himself was a teenager.

Padraig Tangney Jnr was 16 when he abused his 13-year-old cousin at his family home in Meadowlands Estate, Tralee.

Justice Tara Burns said that the non-imposition of a custodial sentence should not be seen by his family, some of whom are standing by him, “as vindication” or as a lessening of the “enormous impact” of his assaults on the victim.

The abuse has deeply scarred the victim, Justice Burns said, noting that Mr Tangney’s guilty pleas were of particular value as the victim was an “extremely fragile witness”.

Mr Tangney (39) pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault of a child at Meadowlands Estate on unknown dates in 1995 and 1996.

The court heard Mr Tangney stills lives at the family home.

Justice Burns said at the time of offending he was legally a child himself, and this had to be considered as one aspect of mitigation.

She accepted as genuine the remorse he has expressed and noted that his offending had an effect on himself.

“He made his own hell,” she said. She noted the Probation Service has assessed him as being at a low risk of re-offending and that a large number of testimonials described a “reserved, remorseful and ashamed man”.

She noted the victim was extremely fragile, and Mr Tangney’s guilty pleas were helpful.

She said due to all these factors, “prison is not warranted”.

She suspended a two-year term of imprisonment on condition he attend counselling for depression and stress management.

The maximum sentence is five years, and Mr Tangney is automatically registered as a sex offender, the court heard.

Detective Sergeant Gary Carroll

told the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Dublin, that the two families were very close, and the victim would often visit the home of her cousin.

During one assault, the older teenager rubbed his genitals up against the child outside her clothing.

Afterwards he told her not to tell her mother or she “would have a heart attack”. Dt Sgt Carroll said the victim’s mother was attending hospital with a heart complaint during this time.

On another occasion Mr Tangney pushed his cousin down on a bed and sexually molested her. She pushed him off but was afraid to tell anyone at the time, the court heard.

She told her mother two years later that her cousin “had been touching her” and this led to a confrontation between the families in which the defendant admitted he “was at her”.

Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, told the court that the victim was waiving her statutory anonymity.