Man (79) pleads guilty at Mayo court to sexually assaulting 'vulnerable' teenager on his farm

A MAN sexually assaulted a teenage boy while he was working on his farm.

The 79-year-old, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his victim, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to one count of sexual assault.

An earlier application to change his plea to not guilty was dismissed by the judge.

The court heard the injured party, who is a vulnerable young person, was aged 15 and 16 when he was sexually assaulted on three dates in October 2018.

The investigating garda said the assailant was known to the victim's family and the boy was carrying out farm work when the sexual assaults took place.

The man would instruct the boy to change into farm clothes in a caravan on the farm.

When the teenager undressed, the defendant would direct him to lie down and the man would then touch his penis.

This happened on three dates and occurred before the boy started work and again when he changed his clothes at the end of the day.

The teenager disclosed what happened to his mother. He told his mother the man had “pulled his wire” and his penis was sore as a result.

His mother reported the matter to gardaí in October 2018.

When interviewed by gardaí, the defendant claimed he had terminated the teenager’s employment and the boy started crying.

This was contradicted by text messages on the victim’s phone.

He told officers that the allegations were “100% lies” and it was a “put together job”.

The 79-year-old has two previous convictions for unrelated offences.

Barrister Martin Durack, representing the defendant, claimed the version of events had been exaggerated by gardaí and the State.

The case was adjourned for finalisation until July 21.

* Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.