Child abuser, 74, loses appeal
Thomas Mooney, of Belvedere Place, Dublin 1, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to eight counts of indecently assaulting a boy when he was aged from 11 to 13 on dates between October 1983 and June 1985.
He was found guilty by a jury following an eight-day trial and sentenced to four years imprisonment with the final two suspended by Judge Catherine Murphy on July 25, 2014.
Mooney moved to have his conviction set aside yesterday on grounds that a statement he made voluntarily to gardaí while not under arrest should not have been admissible in his trial.
Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the victim was persuaded to go to Mooney’s flat to perform sexual acts in exchange for money.
The three-judge Court of Appeal viewed a 10-minute video of Mooney confirming the contents of the statement he made moments earlier.
In the video, Mooney confirmed he would pay the boy, usually ‘a fiver’, for sexual acts which never went to full intercourse.
Mr Justice Mahon noted that Mooney appeared to be particularly attentive to everything read to him. He confirmed the accuracy of what was stated and acknowledged that it was information provided by him.
Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, therfore dismissed the appeal.
