A Derry man has been jailed for the historic abuse of two young girls who looked after his children.
James Christopher Duffy, 63, of Maybrook Park, pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent assault on two females between August 1981 and October 1986.
The victim referred to in eight counts was aged between fourteen and sixteen at the time, while the other was aged thirteen.
The offending was said to have occurred when the victims, referred to as ‘X’ and ‘Y’, stayed overnight while babysitting at the defendant’s home and ‘usually occurred’ after the defendant had returned from being out socialising.
The court was told the offences began with touching ‘X’ over bed clothes after which he apologised and ‘in the morning everyone behaved as if nothing happened’.
The offending behaviour then progressed to under the covers touching but the victim kept it to herself and continued babysitting as she was concerned questions would be asked by her family and ‘all hell would break loose’.
‘Y’ was also assaulted in the same way when she babysat for Duffy and the court heard that it affected ‘Y’ more than ‘X’.
She, ‘not unnaturally’, felt it had been ‘eating away at her’ and decided to contact police by email before reporting the matter so that justice could be done.
During police enquiries the abuse of ‘X’ was also mentioned and in support of ‘Y’ she decided to report what had happened.
Crown Court Judge Philip Babington said: “Those abused in this way often carry the matter with them for many years before doing anything and there is no doubt that both complainants would have suffered to a certain degree in this regard.”
It was explained by the judge that the defendant’s wife found out about the matters following the death of her father in 1987 and it appeared that ‘members of the extended family were aware and an agreement may have been made to keep the information within the family’.
The information was also said to have been disclosed to a local priest, a monk and a psycho-sexual therapist/doctor 26 years ago.
Judge Babington described it as ‘strange and indeed worrying’ that the offences were not reported and questioned whether that would be the ‘position today in 2018’.
The complainants reported the abuse in June 2016 and the defendant was interviewed in December 2016 when he accepted the allegations and made additional admissions.
In a pre-sentence probation report, Duffy was deemed to be at low-likelihood of reoffending and in the low category for supervision and intervention – which is an assessment for individuals convicted of sexual offending.
Aggravating factors included a breach of trust, the vulnerability of the victims due to their age, the period of time the offending occurred and an element of pre-meditation.
Judge Babington said he would take into account the pre-sentence report and Duffy’s ‘sorrow, remorse and regret for what he has done’.
However, they were offences that ‘obviously ate away at the complainants’ for 35 years which caused ‘concern and upset’.
Duffy was sentenced to a total of two years in prison, half will be served in custody, the other half on license in the community.
He will also be subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a period of ten years and he was placed on the barred list relating to children and vulnerable adults.
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