'I was so afraid,' says man with intellectual disability sexually assaulted by Limerick man

The 82-year-old defendant got an 18-month suspended sentence in December 2020 for the sexual exploitation of a child which occurred around the same time as these offences

Judge Helen Boyle remanded Denis Carey in custody pending sentence next week at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. File picture: Larry Cummins 

An 82-year-old Limerick man who confessed to sexually assaulting a young man with an intellectual disability will be sentenced on May 3.

Judge Helen Boyle remanded Denis Carey of Garden Field, Dromcollogher, Limerick, in custody pending sentence next week at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

After hearing an outline of the evidence from Sergeant Deirdre Tuohy, the victim impact statement and defence submissions from Elizabeth O’Connell senior counsel, Judge Boyle said: “I have a lot to consider. I want to think about it. There is an inevitability of a custodial sentence. I am going to remand him in custody.” 

Facts tending to identify the complainant cannot be published but the accused man, Denis Carey, can be identified. The sexual assaults occurred between May and June 2019 and started with Carey putting his hand on the young man’s leg and leading up to rubbing the injured party’s penis, the investigating sergeant said.

The injured party confided in a neighbour that “something was not right” and the neighbour alerted the man’s family who contacted gardaí.

In a victim impact statement, he said he was happy the defendant pleaded guilty and that he would not have to give evidence in a court case. He said he had nightmares about what happened.

“He took advantage of me. I was too scared to speak up. I thought he was a nice old man… 

I was disgusted at letting him do these bad things. He told me not to tell anyone. I was so afraid I hated myself… I feel better now.

Denis Carey agreed with the allegations made against him and said he was aware the young man “had special needs and was not a normal consenting adult”. The same defendant got an 18-month suspended sentence in December 2020 for the sexual exploitation of a child which occurred around the same time as these offences.

Detective Garda Yvonne Cashman gave evidence in that case of a 15-year-old schoolboy in uniform going into the public toilet and urinating in a cubicle. When he was walking out of the toilets Denis Carey called to him and asked him to perform oral sex. 

The schoolboy left and went home without any interaction with the accused whom he did not know. Half an hour later he told his father what had happened.

Ms O’Connell, senior counsel, said it was a bizarre situation where the accused was married with a grown-up family and did not get his first conviction until he was 78 years old. She said a clinical psychologist reported that Denis Carey was showing that he had a little more insight into his behaviour and was developing a sense of responsibility. 

Ms O’Connell said the accused was now estranged from his wife.