High Court orders man to pay 'admirable' abuse survivor €350k damages

The High Court has ordered a man in his 70s to pay his former neighbour €350,000 for sexually abusing her when she was a child.

Sean Connolly of Kilkea, Castledermot, in Co Kildare was jailed for two years at Naas Circuit Court in 2011 having pleaded guilty to six sample charges of sexual assault in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Sean Connolly, now in his 70s, first sexually abused his neighbour Noelle Doyle when she was aged seven.

He used the pretext of repairing her bicycle in his garden shed.

The abuse continued for another five years. Around the time of her confirmation she told friends what was going on and they urged her to tell her parents who believed her.

However, it was not until 2009 that she felt strong enough to go the gardaí.

Her abuser served a two-year jail sentence - today Mr Justice Kevin Cross praised Noelle Doyle's courage and she is now urging other abuse survivors who haven't come forward to do so:

He described Ms Doyle as an "admirable person of courage who has done society a great service by bringing this disgraceful matter to the attention of her parents, the gardaí and the courts".

The court heard Noelle Doyle has suffered depression, post traumatic stress disorder and turned to alcohol earlier in her life a result of the abuse.

She made a brief outside court urging other abuse survivors to come forward.

She said: "I hope that it encourages other women and men to come forward.

"It's a hard, long struggle but I hope it encourages them to stand up for the little children that we once were."