ESB worker, 60, jailed for sex assaults on babysitter
Patrick O’Sullivan, of 23 Silverdale Avenue, Ballinlough, Cork, was jailed by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Det Garda Paul Radley said the victim complained to gardaí in May 2014 about the indecent assaults on her in the 1980s when she was aged around 13 and babysitting the defendant’s daughters.
The sexual assaults consisted of O’Sullivan fondling her breasts, inserting his fingers in her vagina, and getting her to hold his penis.
The assaults occurred when she was sleeping overnight at his home and on one occasion in a caravan on a family holiday in Kerry. Once it occurred not when she was in bed but when she was lying on a couch.
When the defendant was arrested he admitted the sexual assaults on her occurring “two or three times max”. However, he accepted all of the allegations she made when put to him by gardaí even when he did not remember the particulars that she had outlined.
Det Garda Radley said the victim did not feel strong enough to come to court yesterday for the case.
Judge Ó Donnabháin quoted from the victim impact statement that she was left wondering what her life might have been like if this had not happened. She said her childhood was stolen as was a large part of her adult life. She said he pretended to be her friend but abused her for his own pleasure.
O’Sullivan said: “I wish to sincerely apologise to [the victim]. I am so sorry. And I am sorry for my own family. I am disgusted with myself.”
Defence barrister, Donal O’Sullivan, said the defendant realised what was going to occur in court and he recently resigned from his job of 40 years, preparatory to receiving a jail sentence.
