‘I was a walking target’: Co Wicklow man jailed for grooming and sexually assaulting teenage girl

A Co Wicklow man has been jailed for 5½ years for grooming and sexually assaulting a teenage girl almost 25 years ago.
Fergus Delaney (61), of Allendale Lawn, Baltinglass, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court in advance of his trial to four charges of sexually assaulting the then 14-year-old girl on dates between 2000 and 2001.
The woman said she was happy for Delaney to be named in the reporting of the case but that she wished to retain her anonymity.
During the trial, a local garda told Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC prosecuting that the girl was 14 and Delaney was 38 at the time of the offences, which occurred over an eight-month period in various locations close to where they lived at the time.
He said the woman outlined how after some initial conversations over text messages she began to regularly meet Delaney. He sexually assaulted her by kissing her, touching her breasts and genitals. He also got her to touch him, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said Delaney’s “grooming” of her and sexual abuse had “a devastating” impact on her life. She said Delaney was “seen as the pillar of the community” who organised trips with her and she became good friends with one of his relatives.
She said she was a “quiet and shy child” and loved having an outgoing friend like Delaney’s relative.
“I was a walking a target. He would buy me an ice-cream and made me feel special,” she said.
She said the attention from Delaney left her “feeling happy and wanted” but that in time she realised the initial text she got from Delaney was “the beginning of the end of my childhood”.
“I trusted him because I knew him. I liked the way he made me feel grown up and mature,” she said.
The victim said she would skip school to meet Delaney and that teachers noticed that she had become withdrawn. She said she began to develop an eating disorder. “I hated that everything was a secret and he had such control over me. I would wash my mouth out with bleach and shower my body with bleach – I felt disgusting,” she said.
She said the abuse had a devastating effect on her life and she left school because of it. “I was brainwashed by him and told him I was sorry for going to the gardaí,” she added.
She said Delaney had “never shown an ounce of remorse for what he did to me” and that Delaney suggested in interview with gardaí that she, as a child at the time, had seduced him. She said Delaney had ultimately pleaded guilty but this was not because he is remorseful, but because he had no other choice.
Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said Delaney had “deliberately groomed” a young teenager over an eight-month period which would have been “a long time” for a young girl “going through her formative” years.
He said Delaney had made statements of remorse but these “demonstrated limited insight” and predominantly focused on the impact of the offence on the defendant and his family. He acknowledged that Delaney’s marriage has broken down and he had lost his job and accepted that Delaney had no “relevant” previous convictions.
He imposed consecutive sentences totalling six years before he suspended the final six months on strict conditions including that he engages with the Probation Service for two years.
Mr Justice Naidoo thanked the woman for attending the court hearings and said he understands the difficulties it would have caused her.
Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said his client had written a letter for the woman stating that he is “very sorry for what happened and any shame and hurt he had caused her”.