Elderly sex abuser avoids prison

Elderly sex abuser avoids prison

7 June 2017

AN elderly man has been given a three-year suspended prison sentence for the “disgusting and depraved” sexual abuse of his granddaughters.

The man, who is from County Down but cannot be named to protect the identity of his two victims, admitted serially assaulting the two young girls between 2001 and 2011 when one was a teenager and the other was between eight and 10 years old.

Downpatrick Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon that the defendant, who suffers from ill health, had a previous conviction for a similar type of offence.

He originally denied the offences before pleading guilty to 10 separate counts of sexual assault before his trial was due to begin last month.

Judge Piers Grant said he hoped the guilty pleas would give the two young women, who are now in their 20s, comfort and justification for making the complaints against their grandfather.The court heard the abuse came to light when the girls told their mother they had been abused while visiting their grandfather in his bedroom and while their grandmother was in another room.

“They were vulnerable children who should have been protected, not subjected to this disgusting and depraved behaviour on your part,” Judge Grant told the man. “You were in a position of trust as their grandfather.

“I have no doubt your behaviour was disgraceful and outrageous and reflects a big level of culpability on your part.”

Despite the offences justifying a custodial sentence, Judge Grant said he had been persuaded, with “considerable hesitation”, to suspend the prison sentence.

“You deserve a custodial sentence. It is only because of your ill health that I will suspend it for three years,” he said. “There will be no second chance.”