Former scout leader in Cork claims accuser in indecent assault trial is 'a fantasist'

Michael Noel Sheehan (pictured) has denied the charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court of indecently assaulting the boy scout on a weekend away in Glenville. Photo: Cork Courts Limited

A 76-year-old former scout leader said the man who accuses him of indecently assaulting him as a 13-year-old scout in the mid-1980s is “a bit of a fantasist”. 

Michael Noel Sheehan, also known as Noel Sheehan of Chimneyfields, Glenville, County 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 31, 1987.

The complainant is now 48 and said he was 13 at the time of the alleged indecent assault. The accused did not give evidence but a memo of his interview by Detective Gardaí Dave Barry and Dave Moynihan was read to Judge Helen Boyle and the jury of nine men and three women.

The defendant accepted that the complainant was present at Chimneyfields in 1986 but totally denied his allegations. He said he never slept near "the young fellas" and that he had to keep an eye on the kitchen, on the fireplace, on the door and other matters of concern when the scouts were there overnight.

As for an indecent assault he said: “It could not and would not have happened.” Details of the allegation were put to him. The complainant testified" “While I was sleeping I hear the sound of a zip going down. 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.” 

When such details were put to the defendant by detectives, he replied: “Rubbish… I categorically deny it. Not him nor anyone else.

I cannot remember 35 years ago but I would not have done such a thing… I think he is a bit of a fantasist.

When one of the detectives asked Sheehan what age he was in 1986 the defendant replied: “Do the maths yourself.” When it was suggested that the 13-year-old complainant felt alone that night in a strange place, Sheehan said: “Nobody forces them to come and stay there.” 

Asked at the end of the second interview if he had anything else he would like to add, Sheehan replied: “No, I have been finished for some time.” He did not sign the second memo.

One scout who attended at that time was called by the defence and he said the defendant would have slept about six feet away from the boys and would have cordoned off his sleeping area with chairs.

A scout called by the prosecution said he stayed there several times and that Sheehan slept beside the boys. “He slept among the scouts, in close proximity to the scouts. I would have been one of the scouts he slept beside. He slept within what would now be called personal space.” 

The jury will continue their deliberations on a verdict on Thursday.