Ex-principal appeals sentence for indecent assaults

A former primary school principal, now aged 81, has moved to appeal his prison sentence for indecently assaulting 11 women while they were pupils of his in the school in west Clare.

Patrick Barry lost an appeal against conviction earlier this week, with the Court of Appeal “unable to hold” with him on any of his 12 grounds of appeal.

Barry, of Well Rd, Kilkee, Co Clare, had pleaded not guilty to 67 charges of indecently assaulting 11 women on dates between 1964 and 1985 while they attended Moyasta National School as pupils.

A jury found him guilty of 59 counts of indecent assault and not guilty of the remaining eight counts by direction of the trial judge, Gerald Keyes.

Barry was sentenced to an effective 11 years’ imprisonment with the final five suspended by Judge Keyes at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on November 19, 2014.

Speaking on behalf of the Court of Appeal on Monday, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the three-judge court was “unable to hold” with Barry on any of his 12 grounds of appeal and, accordingly, his appeal against conviction was dismissed.

Mr Justice Sheehan said Barry had been a teacher in a two-teacher mixed school in rural Clare 30 to 50 years ago. Eleven of his female pupils claimed that, when they were in fifth and sixth class, they were indecently assaulted by him, the judge said.

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Mr Justice Sheehan said Barry would sit down beside the girls at their desks and touch them indecently or would call them to the front of the class and make them stand between his legs while he was pressed against them.

Sometimes, the judge said, he brought their hands up and down his legs and made some of them touch his genital area.

Apart from two particular complaints, all the offences occurred in the classroom in the presence of other pupils, Mr Justice Sheehan said.

Moving an appeal against sentence yesterday, Roderick O’Hanlon, for Barry, submitted that the sentencing judge did not set out the special circumstances as to why Barry’s sentences were imposed consecutively.

Had Barry been prosecuted 30 years ago, Mr O’Hanlon said, a court would not have found it appropriate to impose consecutive sentences, Mr O’Hanlon said.

Mr O’Hanlon said Moyasta was a small community where everybody knew each other. As such, the loss in standing for Barry would have a significant effect on the balance of his life.

Vincent Heneghan, for the DPP, said Barry sat through the trial and was aware of the allegations and of what he was found guilty.

Mr Heneghan said the amount of victims, their ages, and Barry’s position of trust as their teacher, made the case much graver.

The court heard Barry has a release date of May 20, 2019.

Reserving judgment on the sentence appeal until May 15, Mr Justice George Birmingham said that “this is obviously a difficult case” which raised important issues for all involved.

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