Mother loses appeal against sentence of ex-boyfriend who raped her children
Georgina Tuohey:'They just said that it was a fair judgment, and I can’t bring it any further. The case does not belong to me, it belongs to the State.' Picture: Moya Nolan
A woman whose three children were sexually abused by her ex-boyfriend said that an appeal against his sentence was rejected.
Georgina Tuohey had called for the DPP to appeal boxing coach Brendan Cornally’s 17-and-a-half year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of her two sons and the sexual assault of her daughter.
Ms Tuohey said 51-year-old Cornally — who groomed her before abusing her children — only received five-and-a-half years for the repeated rape of one of her sons, who is autistic, and has now been left in a catatonic state.
Ms Tuohey said that her son was functioning well, having secured a merit in his Leaving Cert Applied, but was so traumatised after the abuse that he "shut down completely" and now needs 24/7 care.
“He is like a three- or four-year-old. He cannot walk across the road anymore. He cannot dress himself. He can't sing. He can't tell jokes," Ms Tuohey said of her son.
“He is now profoundly disabled. He can't do anything for himself. He will need 24-hour round the clock care for the rest of his life. He will not know what independence is like anymore.
“He won't know what it's like to go out and play with friends. He won't know what it's like to have a girlfriend. He won't know what it's like to drive a car.
“He won't know what it's like to get a job. He won't know what it's like to even cast a vote."
Ms Tuohey said that her family has been shattered by Cornally's abuse.
“Our lives are destroyed forever. We don't know what happiness is anymore. That spark, that life, it's gone. It's dead in me. I don't think I’ll ever get it back. That's my sentence," she added.
Her request to appeal the sentence was rejected by the DPP, she said.
“They just said that it was a fair judgment, and I can’t bring it any further. The case does not belong to me, it belongs to the State."
However, Ms Tuohey now plans to pursue a civil case in the High Court against Cornally.
She also hopes to advocate for change and highlight the dangers of sexual abuse.
"It'd eat you up. It would destroy you.”
She said that victims should have more support through the court process and should have their own solicitor.
“People who are victims of these horrible crimes, they need support.
“It’s like a tsunami hits you, and you're drowning and you just can't come up for air. You need a lifeboat there with someone to throw you a buoyancy aid.”
Child sexual abuse is alarmingly common, she said, with abusers pleading guilty before the courts every week, but then walking free from court on bail while waiting for sentencing.
“The courts are filled with them. And he'll just walk out from that courtroom, out into the main hall where everyone else is, down the stairs into the lift, and out the front door.
"You don't even know what he looks like, because he looks like everyone else.”
