Never trust a man or teen boy to look after your children, ever!
'Broke trust in the worst way': Man who sexually abused girl (9) is jailed
A man described by his victim as ‘bad’ who gained the trust of her mother and started sexually abusing her when she was just nine in county Longford has been jailed by a judge for five and a half years.
Niall McGowan (32), of Newtownforbes, Co Longford appeared before Longford Circuit Court on Thursday for his sentencing hearing and he was named and identified for the first time after the injured party said 'everyone should know what he's capable of'.
The brave 16 year-old, who cannot be identified, was sexually assaulted for up to seven months on a date unknown between July 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020 at his residence.
She said she wanted her abuser to be named as she wanted to ensure that "hopefully he can't do what he did to me to any other little girl or boy".
The defendant pleaded not guilty during his trial last November, however, he was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault on the ten-year-old victim, at his residence by a jury.
Mr McGowan, who was aged between 26 years of age and 27 at the time of the offending, had the trust of the mother of the child and access to the little girl at certain times.
The defendant denied sexually assaulting the young girl by 'touching her breasts, vagina and backside' and also a further four counts of sexual assault by digital penetration.
During the trial last November, State prosecutor Shane Geraghty BL, outlined that Mr McGowan was often left to look after the kids in the backroom or sitting room of his residence.
The allegations came to light when the complainant confided in her best friend about the alleged sexual assaults when Mr McGowan drove past in his car and she informed her mother who subsequently told the complainant's mother.
The then-11 year-old girl was interviewed by specialist gardaí on August 16, 2021 as Garda Ursula Kilcoyne and Garda Georgina Gallagher spoke to her about the allegations and this footage was played for the jury in court on video.
Garda Kilcoyne asked the young child to describe what they were doing and where they were when the alleged sexual assaults took place.
She replied that her and her younger brother would often be in the backroom with the defendant and his partner and when they looked after them his partner was maybe there '50% of the time'.
"We would be on our phones and tablets and sometimes we brought board games and we would play them with [them].
"She would just talk to us and play board games with us.
"When [his partner] was there he was normal, he wasn't doing anything."
However, the young complainant stated that the man acted in a completely different manner when he was alone with her and her seven year-old brother.
"When [his partner] was not there he would pick me up and he'd slide his hands down my trousers under my clothes."
Asked by Garda Kilcoyne how often he would do that the complainant replied, "Whenever she wasn't there."
There is no suggestion that Mr McGowan’s then-partner, who is now his wife, knew anything about the sexual abuse of the young victim and she had no reason to suspect anything as the defendant was very careful to cover up the offending.
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