Gardaí in Waterford have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions following a near year-long investigation into complaints of sexual abuse by a sports coach on teenage boys in the city in the 1980s.
A Garda source confirmed to The Irish Times that a detailed file on the alleged abuse by the sports coach has been sent to the DPP after gardaí received complaints from about 12 boys that they were abused by the coach while in their teens.
The investigation began in November 2012 when one man, now in his 40s, contacted gardaí to make a complaint against the sports coach, who is now in his 60s, after discovering the man was still listed as being a member of a sports club in Waterford.
A second man also contacted gardaí around the same time. Detectives took detailed statements from both men in which they outlined the alleged abuse they suffered at the hands of the sports coach.
Following initial media coverage of the case by The Irish Times in April 2013, the sports coach was approached by a number of media organisations. He gave interviews in which he revealed he had been questioned about his alleged behaviour by gardaí as far back as 1987.
The sports coach told RTÉ News he was not going to deny that he could have abused up to 30 victims.
“I’m not going to deny that, yeah – what’s done is done or whatever,” he said.
Following extensive media coverage, a number of other men also came forward and alleged that they too had been abused by the sports coach, who was later arrested and brought to Waterford Garda station for questioning.
The man was arrested under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and questioned for more than 16 hours by gardaí, who put very detailed allegations made by the complainants to him before he was released without charge on May 18th.
The first man to formally contact gardaí to make a complaint about the sports coach welcomed the news that they have forwarded the file to the DPP and he said he looked forward to the process moving on to the next stage.
“It’s been a long road since I first went to the gardaí late last year until now,” he said, “but it’s great to see that there’s progress being made and that the file has gone to the DPP’s office.
“Hopefully now more progress can be made so that justice will prevail.”
