Teacher found guilty of indecent assault of 13-year old student jailed

A former secondary school teacher from Donegal, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old pupil nearly 40 years ago, has been sentenced to two and a half years today.

Jacintha McSherry O'Connor (63), of the Mullins, Donegal Town, County Donegal, was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting a male student in 1985 following a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial in October.

The court heard the abuse occurred while McSherry O'Connor worked as a student teacher at a Dublin secondary school. The court heard she indecently assaulted the boy on two occasions in his home on dates between June 1 and September 1, 1985, while giving him grinds. She was aged 24 at the time and the boy was 13.

In a victim impact statement, the complainant, now in his fifties, said McSherry O'Connor “has been like a spectre hanging over me my whole life”.

A four-day trial also heard allegations of inappropriate sexual relations between McSherry O'Connor and the boy on a holiday she attended with his family in Spain in the run-up to the alleged offences. No charges were before the jury in relation to these alleged incidents as they pertained to a different jurisdiction.

Marc Thompson BL, defending, described the case as ‘highly unusual’ and said his client does not accept the verdict. He said the result of the trial had a ‘significant impact’ on her.

He said there were ‘levels of depravity’ and that McSherry O'Connor had used no violence, not recorded the indecent assaults and had not publicised them.

In December, Judge Elma Sheahan adjourned the case for finalisation until today.