A CIRCUIT COURT judge who was also a former teacher in a Dublin secondary school has been convicted of the sexual abuse of six young men almost 30 years ago.
Gerard O’Brien (59) of Old School House, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, County Tipperary had pleaded not guilty before the Central Criminal Court of one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault in relation to six complainants, some of whom were his students.
The four-week trial heard that the alleged offences occurred on dates between March 1991 and November 1997 at locations in Dublin. The man was in his 30s at the time of the alleged offences, while the complainants were then aged between 17 and 24.
The jury in the trial returned the verdicts today after seven hours and thirty-four minutes of deliberations.
O’Brien had denied all of the charges against him. O’Brien made no reaction as the verdicts were handed down in court.
Five of the six complainants in the trial were present in court and surrounded by their loved ones. When the verdicts were delivered, the complainants and their families cried and embraced each other.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens thanked the jurors for their service and excused them from jury duty for fifteen years as a mark of the court’s appreciation for their work.
He noted that he would have been putting O’Brien into custody only for the special circumstances surrounding him. O’Brien suffers from Phocomelia, which is a rare birth defect that can affect the upper and/or lower limbs. O’Brien is missing both hands and one foot.
The judge said that O’Brien is now automatically on the sex offender register.
Mr Justice Owens directed the preparation of victim impact statements and remanded the defendant on continuing bail until sentencing on 4 March 2023.
Opening the prosecution case, Anne-Marie Lawlor, SC, told the jury that this case involves six complainants who say they were “each and separately the victim of sexual misconduct” perpetrated by the accused man between 1991 and 1997.
O’Brien was teaching in a secondary school at the time, and four of the complainants were students. The other two complainants knew him from his home town.
The six complainants, now in their 40s and early 50s, gave evidence. Some became emotional and upset while recounting their experiences.
Five of the men said they woke up to find O’Brien performing sexual acts on them that they insisted they had not consented to. Of these complainants, four said they woke to the man performing oral sex on them, with the fifth saying he woke to the man licking his face and pressing his penis against his buttocks.
O’Brien, who is missing both hands and a foot, would ask students in the secondary school he taught in to assist him in going to the toilet.
During the trial, the jury heard from many of the complainants that they stayed in O’Brien’s homes to help him get dressed and shaved in the morning.
One of these five complainants also said the accused attempted to rape him anally. The final complainant’s allegation related to an act of masturbation in the toilets of a pub.
Each of the complainants said they had been drinking alcohol, and the accused had been as well.
During their evidence, the complainants were each asked why they didn’t make a complaint to gardai earlier. Some said they had compartmentalised the incidents. Others spoke of shame or embarrassment.
The third complainant to give evidence to the jury said he didn’t want anyone to find out what happened. “It was an extremely intimate action being taken in a manner I never consented to in the first instance. I wanted to keep it to myself.”
The sixth complainant said: “I put it in a block of cement in my mind, and I didn’t think about it”. During his evidence, the sixth complainant told the prosecution that he googled O’Brien and found out that he was a Circuit Court judge, which was one of the reasons he decided to make a complaint to the gardaí.
O’Brien was interviewed voluntarily by gardaí and initially denied any sexual contact with all complainants.
In later interviews, he said sexual interactions had occurred with three of the complainants.
In his direct evidence, he said he “lied” to gardaí initially because of “shame”.
“The idea of being charged with a sexual assault frightened me beyond reason. I went into a sort of blind panic about it all,” he said.
O’Brien acknowledged that having students at his home and in his bed was “inappropriate” and “should not have happened”.
He gave evidence of sexual contact with three of the complainants but denied any sexual interaction with the rest.
During cross-examination, O’Brien was asked if his position is that the six complainants are lying. “Mistaken in some cases”, he replied.
He didn’t accept Lawlor’s suggestion he was a “person who tells lies”, and was lying to the jury.
He denied that he “groomed” a number of the complainants, saying, “I don’t accept I groomed anyone”.
The first complainant to give evidence told the jury that he was a student at the school where the accused worked, and in November 1997, he stayed in the accused’s home.
In her closing speech, Lawlor asked the jury to consider whether “there is an inherent unlikelihood that several people would make similar allegations” against the same person.
Prosecuting counsel suggested it is a “significant” factor that the accused “made a very considered and deliberate decision to lie repeatedly to gardai” for “no reason but to protect himself”.
She said the complainants had each given “compelling” and credible evidence about the alleged incidents.
While the complainants had the legal capacity to give consent, “in five of these incidents, each individual told you they woke up to sexual engagement they hadn’t consented to as they were asleep,” Lawlor said.
In his closing speech, O’Higgins told the jury that his client’s decision to initially lie to gardai was partly because he was “terrified” by the allegations.
He said while his client has lied, this “could not mean that you can’t take what he says on board and give it the scrutiny it deserves”.
Defence counsel asked jurors to look at inconsistencies in the complainants’ evidence, suggesting their memories of events may not be reliable due to the passage of time. He asked them to consider if other evidence supports his client’s version of events.
Defence counsel said his client has acknowledged “completely inappropriate” contact with some students.
“No doubt there was a weakness here, that has resulted in calamitous consequences”.
In his charge, Mr Justice Alexander Owens told the jury the case “boils down” to whether or not they accept the evidence of the witnesses.
He told them that they are not permitted to infer anything from the fact that the man is facing a number of charges, and they must consider each count individually.
During the trial, there were several robust exchanges about when or if the jury should be made aware of O’Brien’s most recent profession as a Circuit Court Judge.
Prosecuting counsel argued that O’Brien’s profession is “no different to any other profession for our purpose”, and it would be “against common sense” to deprive the jury of this information.
Defence counsel argued this was unnecessary information to include in the opening speech, and while jurors would be “repulsed” to hear a teacher had a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old student, they might be “horrified” if they became aware of his most recent job.
Mr Justice Owens ruled that O’Brien’s most recent profession could not be mentioned in the opening speech but added that it was likely to emerge during evidence, and the jury was entitled to be told at this point.
This issue emerged again before each complainant was asked why they decided to make a complainant, as some mentioned his recent profession as a judge in their statements to gardai.
Mr Justice Owens noted there is no rule that a person’s occupation may be withheld from the jury. He said O’Brien’s occupation may be relevant to the complainants’ explanations of why they decided to speak to gardai, but noted that it is “neither here nor there” in relation to the alleged incidents.
Only the sixth complainant referred to the man’s most recent profession as a judge when explaining his decision to make a complaint.
One juror was discharged on the seventh day after receiving bad news.
Another juror was later discharged after being diagnosed with Covid-19. After hearing submissions from counsel, Mr Justice Owens decided the trial would proceed with ten jurors.
In a statement this evening, Justice Minister Helen McEntee noted the criminal conviction of O’Brien.
“My thoughts are with the victims – these are appalling cases of sexual assault, I thank them for coming forward. I would also like to thank the Gardaí,” she said.
“I have been clear that we have a lot of work to do to achieve my aim of zero tolerance in our society for all forms of domestic, sexual and gender based violence.
“Part of that is clearly demonstrating that nobody, no matter what position they hold in our society, is above the law or immune from prosecution for such crimes. Today is clear proof of that.
“I will now be considering the options open to the Government and the Oireachtas. I have asked the Attorney General to advise.”
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