Pensioner sent to jail for three years for abuse of young girls

A MAN who sexually molested seven girls over a seven-year period was sentenced to a total of three years in prison yesterday.

Patrick Reilly, aged 76, of Shanaghy, Belmullet, Co. Mayo, was described by one of his victims as ‘an evil monster who destroyed my childhood’.

At at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin lifted reporting restrictions to allow for the publication in the media of the name of the guilty man.

However, he barred publication of the victims’ names or details of the court case which might lead to the identification of any of the victims in the case.

Last month, Reilly pleaded guilty to 20 counts of sexually molesting his victims – aged between seven and 12 – by touching them beneath their clothes on dates between 1997 and 2004.

He was described in court yesterday as a fisherman and handyman who is married with ten children.

Counsel for the accused said Reilly had been a respected member of the community but had suffered a fall from grace due to what happened.

Detective Garda John Lavery agreed with counsel that the case had caused tensions within the community and there had been incidents of attacks and damage to property.

In a brief victim impact statement read to the court, one of the victims – who are all now adults – said she still lives in fear because of what happened.

Of the accused she wrote: ‘He took away my innocence and kept me living in fear while he lived a normal life.’

The judge said 19 of the cases involved gross fondling or rubbing.

On each of the 19 charges he imposed a three years sentence. On a 20th count he imposed a four-year sentence with the final year suspended. All sentences are concurrent. Reilly will serve three years.