Cork man jailed for sexually assaulting victim over a period of three and a half years 

A sex abuse victim apologised to his parents and family for his own behaviour during a time prior to revealing to them that he had been sexually assaulted repeatedly for more than three years.

“They could not have known what I was dealing with. Now I am starting a new chapter. I am doing well. I have a great girlfriend and I would like to thank her for not giving up on me,” the young man said.

He also thanked his family and investigating gardaí.

In the victim impact statement which he read during the sentencing of 48-year-old Finbarr Murphy of Cullen, Riverstick, County Cork, he said directly to Murphy: “I no longer carry the shame, the blame or the guilt – they are off my shoulders and back on yours where they belong. I will no longer allow you to have a hold over me. I am strong and I have taken my power back.” 

Judge Colin Daly imposed a sentence of three years on Finbarr Murphy with the last year suspended.

The judge said Murphy – who was in his 30s at the time of the sex abuse – had groomed the 13-year-old and exploited the boy’s interest in tractors and heavy machinery.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Long said the victim was interested in the machinery and Murphy worked in that area.

Judge Daly said that by exploiting the boy’s interests in this area he had groomed him and went on to sexually abuse him regularly for three and a half years.

It ended when the victim was 16 and a half years old and punched Murphy in the face during what was the last incident of sexual assault. He broke Murphy’s glasses and left him with a blackeye which the accused explained locally at the time as having resulted from a belt from a horse.

Siobhán Lankford said that Murphy accepted that his actions had a traumatic effect on the injured party.