A convicted sex offender has been jailed for the abuse of two boys including one he met while volunteering with the scouts.
Michael Malone (50) of Bree, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sample counts of indecent assault and sexual assault of a child at locations in Wexford town, Co Wexford, on dates between December 1st, 1989 and December 31st, 1991.
Malone also pleaded guilty to sample counts of sexual assault of another child at locations in Wexford town, Co Wexford, on dates between January 18th, 1991 and December 16th, 1992.
Passing sentence on Thursday, Mr Justice Michael White said he wanted to salute the courage of the two complainants. He said what happened was not their fault as they were innocent children who were preyed upon by the accused.
Mr Justice White said the case was aggravated by the systematic nature of the abuse over a period time and it seemed clear to him that Malone was grooming the boys. He said the case was further aggravated by the impact it had on the victims and by the very serious breach of trust.
He said the mitigating factors in the case were the man’s guilty plea, his remorse and that he was “a very young man” when the offending took place. He also noted as neutral issues that significant time had passed since the offences and the accused had lived “a blame-free life” since.
Mr Justice White sentenced Malone to two years imprisonment on two sample counts of sexual assault each relating to the two victims and suspended one year from each of these sentences on condition he remain under supervision of the Probation Service for two years post release.
He ordered that all sentences will run consecutively with each other – giving an operating sentence of eight years imprisonment, but with the final four years suspended.
‘Truth or dare’
Garda Josh Dolan told Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that the first of the two victims began attending cub scouts when he was around 12 years old and was befriended by Malone who worked with the scouts as a volunteer.
Malone, who was aged around 20, began to invite the first victim to quiet spots around town where they would drink cans of lager. These meetings involved a drinking game where Malone would unzip his privates, masturbate himself and then invite the boy to run his hand on the accused’s penis.
These incidents occurred twice or three times a week. Malone then began to bring the first victim to his mother’s house where they played games of “truth or dare” during one of which he dared the child to insert a plastic bottle into his anus and “see how far up it can get”.
The first victim decided he wanted nothing more to do with the man after a similar incident in which Malone persuaded him to insert a dildo into his anus while the accused masturbated.
The second victim was 14 when introduced to Malone by the first. Malone would give the boy glue to sniff and after the victim became drowsy Malone would molest him. These incidents became very common experiences.
Towards the end of the offences, Malone came to the boy’s house and told him that if the gardaí talked to him he should tell them that he was just down in the snooker hall during their meetings.
In his victim impact statement, which he read out in court, the first victim said that Malone had “ruined his life”. He said he found drugs to block out the memories and lost friends and family because they thought he was a bad person.
In his victim impact statement, which was also read out in court, the second victim said he was not the same person he used to be. He said he could not socialise with people and could not talk to his family because they did not know.
Previous convictions
Malone has previous convictions for the indecent assaults of two different victims in the 1980s. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment following conviction in 1999, but the court heard he effectively only spent about seven months in prison.
Philip Sheahan SC, defending, said his client married subsequent to his other convictions and his wife had knowledge of those matters. He said a probation report stated that Malone had a moderate risk of re-offending.