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Jury convicts man of raping and sexually assaulting a child in Kildare
on 02/11/2012 16:22:00
Clive Dwyer (aged 30) of Mill Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, had pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault, three counts of oral rape and one count of anal rape on dates between January 1, 1999 and 31 December 2002.
The jury of seven men and five women found Dwyer guilty by unanimous verdict on all counts of sexual assault and oral rape, and guilty by a majority verdict on the count of anal rape.
The victim is now 17-years-old and Dwyer was a Leaving Certificate student at the time of the offence.
Dwyer initially admitted to the sexual abuse when interviewed by gardaí, but during the trial claimed he had only made the admissions because he had been questioned early in the morning and hadn't had a cup of coffee yet.
He was convicted on the fourth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court following three hours and 35 minutes of deliberation.
Mr Justice George Birmingham remanded Dwyer in custody until December for sentence.
He thanked the jurors for their diligence and exempted them from further jury service for ten years.
Dwyer was registered as a sex offender and a victim impact report was ordered for the sentencing hearing.
The prosecution's case focused on a garda interview during which Dwyer initially denied the allegations, before admitting to having sexual relations with the boy on a number of occasions.
The jury were shown a video of the interview, in which Dwyer said: "It happened, just playing around. We do things in life we regret."
Dwyer told interviewing gardaí: "Maybe once I had sex with him, just once" but said there had been no use of force.
When questioned during the trial, Dwyer claimed he only made these admissions because he was interviewed early in the morning and hadn't had a cup of coffee yet.
Dwyer told prosecution counsel Ms Eileen O'Leary SC, that he felt intimated during the interview because the garda kept repeating questions.
"I recall the interview with the gardaí. I found they were repeating their questions when I had already answered them," he said.
He added: "I was confused. I had already answered the questions with the correct answers."
Ms O'Leary pointed out that he admitted touching the boy in reply to one of the first questions asked in the interview, a question which had not been repeated.
"I was in shock," he said, adding: "It was because of the time of morning it was. I was dragged out of bed. I hadn't even got a coffee inside of me."
Ms O'Leary said that the interview took place at 8:49am and Dwyer agreed that he had been allowed a visit from his partner and was given a glass of water. He also agreed that he was given a break during the interview.
"I wouldn't have been thinking clearly at that time of the morning," he said.
Ms O'Leary pointed out that his story changed a number of times; he initially denied everything before admitting to some touching, and finally admitting to anal sex with the boy on one occasion.
Dwyer accepted what he said in the interview, before adding: "It never happened, these allegations are untrue."
Ms O'Leary said the jury had been shown a video of the interview and described the behaviour of the gardaí as "exemplary."
"I'm putting it to you that there was no pressure put on you," she said.
The accused man agreed that he had signed off on the content of the interview and had declined the opportunity to change his statement.
He also accepted that he hadn't made a complaint about the conduct of the interviewing gardaí. "My head was wrecked, I just wanted to get home," he said.
Questioned by Remy Farrell SC, defending, Dwyer said: "I was abused myself when I was a kid. I was 14 at the time. When they were interviewing me it kind of brought all those memories back again."
Earlier in the trial, the victim told the jury that he was raped and sexually assaulted by Dwyer on several occasions.
When asked to describe the offences, the 17-year-old complainant told the court: "I can't. I'm not able to say it out loud."
He later told the jury that he remembers being upstairs in his bedroom, sitting on a beanbag with a toy car in his hand, when the accused came in, took down his trousers and exposed his penis.
"He took out his penis. He made me suck it. I was wearing red pyjamas. There was hair about it, ginger red. It wasn't erect, it was soft. It lasted about 15 minutes," he said.
The teenager said the same thing happened a few weeks later, when the accused made him suck his penis for about ten minutes before going into the bathroom.
He also told the court that a few months later he had been playing on his Playstation in his bedroom shortly after Christmas when Dwyer came in.
"I was wearing my red pyjamas. He told me to sit down on the bed beside him. He took out his penis again. He told me to turn around and pull down my pyjama bottoms. He stuck his penis in my bum."
"It lasted roughly ten minutes. Before that, he made me suck his penis again," he said.
When asked by Mr Farrell, whether he believed there was money in Dwyer's family, the teenager replied: "What are you on about money for? I don't give a f**k about money. I want to see him gone."
The victim's sister told the court that her brother confided in her last year, and she brought him to gardaí to report the allegations.
The teenager's mother said she knew nothing about the alleged incidents until her daughter told her.