A young man who was raped as an 11-year-old boy has said he will not carry the guilt any more and is “reclaiming my voice, my story and my life”.
Devin O’Donnell (19) was reading from his victim impact statement at the Central Criminal Court sentencing of Joseph Campbell (63) of Castle Court, Daingean, Co Offaly.
Campbell, who is the father of Mr O’Donnell’s stepmother, was jailed for 8½ years on Monday.
Fionnuala O’Sullivan SC, prosecuting, told the court Mr O’Donnell wishes to waive his right to anonymity so Campbell can be named publicly.
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Mr O’Donnell said Campbell “changed how I experienced the world” and “planted silence inside me”. For a long time “shame felt louder than my voice”, he said, adding: “But I’m not that scared little child any more.
“What you did stole parts of my life that I will never get back. But you didn’t take everything. You didn’t take my strength ... I am still here. And I’m slowly learning that I was never the one who should have felt ashamed; you were,” Mr O’Donnell said.
Campbell was convicted following a trial last June on what is termed as section 4 rape (anal rape) at Mr O’Donnell’s home in October 2017. He had denied the charges. Further charges of sexual assault perpetrated by Campbell on the victim in December 2021 were taken into account.
On Monday, Ms Justice Ellen Ring noted Mr O’Donnell’s “resilience” and said he had faced many challenges.
“He was preyed upon by a person whom he should have trusted. No child should have to have these experiences,” she said.
She said Campbell was “a grandfather figure in the family structure” and “breached the trust that such a role brings”.
She said he does not accept the verdict and has shown no insight or empathy for the victim.
“He threatened an 11-year-old whose mother had just died – the psychological and emotional abuse that causes extends the physical harm,” she said.
Campbell has no previous convictions.
Det Garda Suzanne Neary told the court about Mr O’Donnell’s Garda interviews in 2023, when he was 17 years old.
Mr O’Donnell had gone to live with his father and stepmother after his mother died, when he was aged eight.
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On one occasion in 2021, Campbell sexually assaulted him by touching his “private parts over his clothes”. The boy pushed Campbell away and ran off crying.
He ran to his friend’s home and contacted his aunt, who brought him to a Garda station to make a complaint. He stayed with her for a week but was forced to return to his father and stepmother. He ran away from home to live with his maternal grandmother and has lived there since, the court heard.
During a second Garda interview in 2023, Mr O’Donnell said the incident he previously disclosed was not the first time Campbell abused him.
He said he was 11 years old when he was orally and anally raped by Campbell, who was sleeping in a spare bed in the boy’s bedroom.
He said Campbell warned him he would be put into care if he disclosed what happened. Mr O’Donnell told gardaí: “I had the fear of God in me, so I stayed quiet.”
Campbell was arrested and interviewed. He denied the allegation.
On Monday, John Hayden SC, defending, said testimonials were written on his client’s behalf. He said Campbell had been diagnosed as having a mild learning disability and significant mental health difficulties, including depression.
Mr Hayden said a woman in Campbell’s local community described him as someone who has always been respectful and caring and “a great support” to her son.
A testimonial from Campbell’s ex-wife, who is the mother of his three children, said Campbell loved and cherished all of her children.
