Mayo farmer (80) jailed for sexually assaulting teenage boy - Courts News Ireland

An 80-year-old farmer has been sentenced to five years in prison with the final year suspended for sexually assaulting a teenage boy he had hired to work on his farm. James Nolan of Derryronane, Swinford, Co Mayo, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexually assaulting the child in a caravan on his farm on multiple occasions in October 2018. At a hearing

An 80-year-old farmer has been sentenced to five years in prison with the final year suspended for sexually assaulting a teenage boy he had hired to work on his farm.

James Nolan of Derryronane, Swinford, Co Mayo, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexually assaulting the child in a caravan on his farm on multiple occasions in October 2018.

At a hearing today, Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court heard that although Nolan pleaded guilty, he later said his plea was a ‘misunderstanding’ and sought to resile from it.

‘It’s 100 per cent lies, a complete pack of lies,’ Nolan told gardaí.

The court heard the teenager was paid €10 a day for farm work including washing out sheds, and the abuse took place in Nolan’s caravan where the boy had been taken to change into farm clothes.

Passing sentence, Judge Eoin Garavan said Nolan had ‘no remorse and no empathy’ and took no responsibility for his ‘opportunistic’ abuse of a very vulnerable young person.

‘This happened three times. It was intentional, planned. He made moves to employ him and presented as a kindly, helpful figure and turned out to be an abuser of a traumatised child,’ said the judge.

‘It was a complete breach of trust, he abused his position of authority. He set a trap,’ said Judge Garavan.

Garda Paula Griffin read out a victim impact statement on behalf of the young man, now aged in his twenties, who gave his permission for Nolan to be named.

The victim said he was afraid to tell anyone about the abuse at the time and felt ‘lost, sick and angry’ with Nolan and with himself.

He said he didn’t eat for three weeks after the abuse and was afraid to leave his house or be among people.

He continues to suffer from suicidal ideation, anxiety and nightmares and thinks repetitively about what happened to him.

‘It does my head in,’ he wrote; ‘I can’t trust anyone. Anyone who gets close to me I push them away. I can’t be around big crowds. I panic if I’m in a queue.’

Judge Garavan said the child’s parents noticed a huge change in their son after the abuse, he became quite aggressive, troubled and afraid.

Colm Smyth SC, defending, said Nolan now maintains his innocence and refuses to accept he did anything.

He said his client has a serious medical history requiring hospitalisation including chronic heart disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma and diabetes.

Nolan is separated from his wife and lives alone in a caravan, the court heard.

He has a number of previous convictions including theft, fraud and possession of stolen property.

The judge said there was an ‘entire absence of mitigation’ apart from Nolan’s ‘torturously obtained’ guilty plea, his medical condition and his age.

He set a headline sentence of seven years and reduced this to five years on mitigation, with the final 12 months suspended for two years.