Two-year suspended sentence for abuse

A 62-year-old Dublin man has been given a two-year suspended sentence for abusing a young boy over 30 years ago.

Christopher O'Hanlon of Newtown Cottages, Malahide Road, Dublin 17, first started sexually abusing the boy when he was 11 years old and the assaults continued for two years.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of indecent assault on the victim on dates between 1976 and 1978. O'Hanlon was registered as a sex offender. He had no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since.

Judge Patricia Ryan said she had suspended the sentence because O'Hanlon now had a very serious illness, "but this is not ignoring the gravity of the offence and the long term affect it has had on the victim", she added.