Derry OâRourke, the former international swimming coach, has been jailed for 10 years for the rape of a teenager he was coaching in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Ms Justice Melanie Greally sentenced OâRourke at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday following his conviction by unanimous jury verdict of one count of rape and 11 counts of indecent assault of the victim between 1989 and 1990, when she was aged between 13 and 14.
A Garda investigation began after the woman made a complaint in 2021.
The sentencing took place just 24 hours after OâRourkeâs victim addressed him directly in her victim impact statement to the court, telling him: âYou took so much that was not yours to take and nothing will ever give it backâ.
Now in her 40s, the woman said the abuse âchanged my world, my entire existence for the worstâ. Her experiences at the hands of OâRourke had played a âhugeâ part in her choosing not to have children. She did not want any child of hers to suffer the way she had.
After OâRourke raped her in a room in her school, that experience made her âcreate a mask for myselfâ that âkept me silentâ and âmoulded my life for yearsâ. She had been unable to tell anyone and went on to leave her home place, and then left Ireland.
She still lived outside the country and she felt sad about this as âthere is still so much beauty and kindness hereâ. But OâRourkeâs abuse had âtaintedâ and âbroken that belief of kindness and securityâ.
OâRourke (78), with an address at Bailieboro, Co Cavan, previously served sentences for sexual offences against other children, including rape.
He was previously jailed in January 1998 for 12 years after he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 29 offences involving 11 girls on dates between 1976 and 1992. The charges involved defilement, sexual assault and indecent assault.
In August 2000, he was sentenced to four years on 19 charges involving six girls aged between 10 and 19 who were all being coached by him. The indecent and sexual assaults took place on dates unknown between July 1970 and December 1992.
In January 2005, OâRourke was jailed for 10 years after admitting two charges of rape and two counts of indecent assault on dates between 1975 and 1978 in relation to the victim. That sentence was backdated to March 13th, 2000. He has not come to any Garda attention since his release from prison in 2007, the court heard.
The victim at the centre of the latest case said when OâRourke offered to coach her, when she was aged about 13 years – and âlooked like a childâ – she was âthrilled that someone had noticed herâ.
The initial stages of abuse involved OâRourke carrying out what he called âmuscle checksâ, moving his hands up and down her breasts. The victim, at that time, believed these checks were âlegitimateâ. He later told her he needed to do additional tests which involved him digitally penetrating her after the breast âchecksâ.
When she resumed training after the summer holidays, OâRourke on one occasion took her to the room where the âchecksâ took place and raped her. She was âin a state of shockâ, felt âawfulâ and âviolatedâ and that âthe trust had been brokenâ and she felt unable to tell anyone.
OâRourke denied the charges and denied having any knowledge of the victim. Patricia McLoughlin SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, on Tuesday submitted that the offences merit a headline sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.
Michael Bowman SC, for OâRourke, submitted the appropriate headline sentence was between 10 and 15 years. He said OâRourke did not have previous convictions at the time of the offences. He said OâRourke accepted the juryâs verdict, apologises to the victim for what happened and acknowledges her truthfulness and the impact of the offences on her.
The court was told OâRourke has a number of health conditions, his relationship had ended, he has no meaningful engagement with his six children and lives alone.
OâRourke had instructed that he himself was inappropriately interfered with by a schoolteacher when he was eight, counsel added.
In her statement to the court on Tuesday, the victim said OâRourke would ânever realise the way you made me feel and the uncertainties, the inadequacies you installed in meâ. She said his âdeliberate grooming and abuse of me as a childâ led in part to her wanting to escape her life and that she had taken an overdose of sleeping tablets.
The woman said she is âonly just learning how to let my pain, my hurt, my anger through the gag you made me wear for so many yearsâ. She had repressed her feelings for a long time and âswallowed the past like a good girlâ until she started to âslowly, painfully, regretfullyâ piece together what had happened.
