Radio Dublin founder jailed for ten years for indecent assault                                               (7/10)

 

Dublin, March 30th, 2007

The founder of illegal station Radio Dublin has been sentenced to ten years in prison for indecently assaulting two young girls at his home thirty years ago.

70-year-old Eamon Cooke, a father of 11, with previous addresses at Tallaght and Clondalkin, was convicted of all 42 charges of indecent assault, by a jury earlier this month.

The father of 11 was originally jailed for ten years in 2003 for sexually assaulting the girls, but his conviction was later quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, and a retrial ordered.

Both women who were abused by cooke between 1974 and 1978 took the stand today.

The first said she would never know the person she would have been if Cooke hadn't sexually abused her at such a young age.

She said she could never fully explain to people how she suffered, giving evidence through two trials.

The second victim recounted how she had to give evidence a number of times, made difficult she added by a system heavily weighted in favour of the accused.

Eamon Cooke always denied the abuse claiming the allegations were made to blacken his name.

Mr Justice Clarke said the young victims had come to accept the routine of highly sexualised conduct as normal but eventually recognised they were the innocent victims of paedophile grooming.

She handed down a ten year sentence taking into account the three and a half years he has already served.

 

© 2007 www.unison.ie - Friday 30th March 2007