Trial begins of former scout leader charged with indecent assault of boy scout in Cork
When asked about his memory of the complainant, Michael Noel Sheehan said he “never seemed to be the full shilling.” Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney
A 76-year-old former scout leader has gone on trial after he denied indecently assaulting a 13-year-old scout in the mid-1980s.
Michael Noel Sheehan, also known as Noel Sheehan of Chimneyfields, Glenville, Co Cork, denied the charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court of indecently assaulting the boy scout on a weekend away in Glenville between January 7, 1986, and April 30, 1987.
The complainant is now 48 and said he was 13 at the time of the alleged indecent assault.
“While I was sleeping I hear the sound of a zip going down. My initial thought is that it is some of the lads messing. I then realised who I am next to. I am next to Noel Sheehan.
“A hand and arm comes into my sleeping bag from my left hand side. It is a hairy, man’s hand and arm. The hand goes down to my genitals.
“I think for a second, what the ‘eff’ are you doing. I freeze. I am paralysed. Do I shout? No. Do I fight it off? No. I just stay there and pretend to be asleep.
“It goes on for five to 10 minutes maybe. And then the hand comes out of my sleeping bag.
“Will I go to the kitchen and get a knife and hurt him? I never hurt anyone in my life. I did not act on it but that is the thought that went through my head.
“I am praying for morning to come,” the complainant said in his direct evidence to prosecution barrister Imelda Kelly.
Cross-examined by Paula McCarthy, defending, he disagreed about specifics of the sleeping arrangements which she suggested.
Ms McCarthy said the defendant’s sleeping arrangements were cordoned off. The complainant replied: “I am telling you 100% he is not cordoned off. He is about one foot away from me. I am awakened by the zip going down. No barriers. Just to be clear, no barriers.”
Ms McCarthy said: “You kept your eyes closed and pretended to be asleep.” He said: “It is a hairy man’s hand. It is 100% a man’s hand.
The complainant said:
Ms McCarthy said: “Mr Sheehan categorically denies that he ever touched you on the night or opened the zip. He denies it emphatically.”
The barrister added the accused did not sleep with the scouts and that there were always barriers around his sleeping area which was distanced from the scouts.
The complainant replied: “Absolute bullshit. There are no barriers. He is sleeping in with the kids. And I guarantee if someone put their fecking hand down your pants you would know it.”
A memo of an interview of the accused by Detective Garda Dave Moynihan was read to the judge and the nine men and three women of the jury. He categorically denied assaulting anyone and said the scout unit was well run in the 30 years when he was leader.
“If you were abusing them they would not stay,” he said.
Asked about his memory of the complainant, the defendant said he “never seemed to be the full shilling.”
The trial continues.
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