December 2014
Sex offender burnt out of his Wexford house
A former public servant who was “burnt out of his house” following his conviction for sexually assaulting two young girls has had his sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal.
Aidan Leacy (56), of New Ross, Co Wexford, pleaded guilty to one count of sexually assaulting two young girls in the west of the country on dates between November 2007 and January 2008.
He was sentenced to six years imprisonment by Judge Carroll Moran at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on March 3 2013.
Following a successful appeal today by Leacy, a new sentence of three years imprisonment with two years post release supervision was imposed on him by the Court of Appeal.
Mr Justice George Birmingham said Leacy sexually assaulted two seven-year-old girls in late 2007, early 2008. Leacy’s daughter was in the same class in school as the injured parties and these two girls would attend his house to play.
The judge said Leacy showed them adult pornographic magazines and sought to explain to them the mechanics of a sexual act.
Leacy encouraged the young girls to play “games” in which he would expose himself, the judge said. On about four or five occasions, encouraged by him, the little girls would pull down his trousers as well as their own clothes and underwear.
He also put them over his shoulder and smacked their bottoms. That act gave rise to the count of sexual assault, the judge said.
Mr Justice Birmingham said there were two arson attacks on Leacy’s home as a result of his conviction and he subsequently moved to Wexford. He is a former public service employee who worked as a gardener, the judge said.
It appeared, Mr Justice Birmingham said, that the HSE contacted the public service body for which Leacy had been employed and because the public had access to the parks and gardens where he was working, he lost his job.
The HSE also took his two children into care and confined him to supervised access once a week.
Counsel for Leacy, Thomas Creed SC, said his client was “effectively burnt out of his house”, had lost his job and his children were taken away from him and his wife as a direct result of this offence.
Leacy, who has no previous convictions, attempted to take his life, the judge said. He had pleaded guilty but it was not an early plea.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the court could not deal lightly with a situation where offences were committed against children as young as the injured parties. There was a very real breach of trust by Leacy because the two little girls had been coming to the home of a classmate and playmate.
The offences have had significant impact on the girls and their families and it was “hard to imagine anything more serious, disturbing and unsettling” than what had occurred here, Mr Justice Birmingham said.
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeal was of the view that Leacy’s sentence was out of line with sentences which have been imposed for comparable offending.
The court substituted Leacy’s six year sentence for one of three years with two years post release supervision.
Apparently the probation service are most effective when the period of supervision can be confined, Mr Justice Birmingham said.
The court was told that Leacy will be on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
