Twenty-three character references presented to court on behalf of man who sexually assaulted three children – Independent.ie

29 comments

  1. I read the article and couldn’t believe the support he was given, the reduced sentence, all despite the severity of his actions and his insistence they never happened. Here you go:

    Vincent Williams (41) of Mountain Park, Tallaght, Dublin, was convicted after a trial last October of five counts of sexual assault of the children at his home on an unknown date in late 2012 and on October 29 2016.

    Williams had pleaded not guilty and Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today that he continues to deny the offending.

    The references handed into court described the father-of-five as a dedicated, honest, and trustworthy character.

    A probation report was also presented to the court, which stated that he was at low risk of reoffending.

    Garda Oran Forest told the court that all three victims were friends of William’s daughter at the time.

    Two of the victims were aged 16 when Williams molested them when they were at his home for a sleepover on the night of October 29, 2016.

    Williams and his wife had gone out to a party.

    When they came home the girls stayed up with the couple chatting and dancing.

    One girl found herself in the kitchen alone with Williams when he put his arm around her waist, moved it under her clothes and touched her breasts.

    Later on the second girl woke up to find Williams standing over her with his hand down her top, under her bra and squeezing her breasts with one hand.

    When the victim asked him to stop Williams asked her if she wanted a drink.

    She replied no and attempted to go back to sleep. A few minutes later Williams returned and once again put his hand down her top and touched her breasts.

    The court heard that Williams was interrupted as one of his younger children ran into the room.

    Williams left that room but returned later and molested the teenager again.

    The victim told Williams to stop, but he replied no. The victim got dressed and left the house, telling William’s daughter that her mother had called her and told her to come home.

    A third girl was aged only 12 to 13 when Williams assaulted her in his family home during a sleepover on a date between September 2012 and December 2013.

    The victim woke in the middle of the night to find Williams standing over her with his hand underneath her underwear and molesting her.

    Sinead McMullen BL, prosecuting, read two of the three victim impact statements to the court on behalf of the victims.

    During the first victim impact statement, the court heard she had been a carefree teen but now had a dark cloud around her. She stated that “fathers are meant to protect, not take advantage of young girls.”

    She told Williams: “Your actions shattered the world around me.”

    The second victim told the court that she always feels ashamed “like he took a piece of me”, stating that she carries the damage of the assault with her every day.

    Defending counsel Keith Spencer BL told the court that his client is a very involved father and that all his children are thriving.

    In addition, he has a very productive work life and has been employed by the same company for over 25 years.

    Twenty-three character references were presented to the court from family, friends, and community members on behalf of Williams, outlining his dedicated, honest, and trustworthy character.

    Judge Pauline Codd paid tribute to all three victims, who she said conducted themselves with great insight and maturity throughout the trial process. She noted the abuse had had a devastating impact on all of their lives and commended the young ladies for coming forward.

    Judge Codd said that the aggravating factors were the breach of trust and the offering of alcohol to children.

    She said she also had to take into consideration that mitigating factors, including the absence of previous convictions, and his good work history.

    She also noted Williams is the main provider for his family and support for his wife, who has a medical need.

    Jude Codd handed down a four and a half year sentence. She suspended the final year under certain conditions, including that he have no direct or indirect contact with any of the victims and have no unsupervised contact with any children other than his own.

    She also placed under the supervision of the Probation Service for one year after his release from prison.

    The court heard that the victims wanted Williams to be identified publicly. Defence counsel objected and submitted that identifying Williams would unfairly affect his family who were also suffering and were innocent of any crimes.

    Judge Codd said Williams had brought this on his own head but said she did not condone any inappropriate behaviour towards an innocent family. She said she understood that his family is also suffering but said she was permitting the publication of his name.

  3. Low chance of reoffending?? Where do they come up with that, I imagine there was more offendes than one night in 2013 and one in 2016.

  5. This makes me absolutely sick. As someone who was sexually abused by a parent, I can tell you that sometimes that person is outwardly a very well liked person. They are loved and respected by so many people so i dont blame those people who gave those references, they were all coned, they really only ever saw the fake personality of that disgusting filthy monster. They hide who they are to most people. Monsters are usually very well liked. My heart and soul goes out to these people that saw what a fucking monster he is.

  12. I wonder if they re-worded the title to read ‘twenty-three individuals under investigation after character references presented to court on behalf of man who sexually assaulted three children’, would people be so keen on giving these references.

  13. They can whinge on the radio and TV all they want about toxic males but until there is serious reform of the judiciary cunts like your man won’t do serious time and will likely reoffend.

  15. Wasn’t there a post here last year about a judge who said he’s going to “put a mark” on this shit, whatever that means? And everybody was jizzing all over the place.

  16. I’ve not even done anything wrong, but I just don’t have a lot of friends. I don’t think I can get 23 character references. What a stupid system.

  17. If he was named in court then it must be possible for the names of people and organisations that gave references to be published. If people knew their names might be published they might think twice about giving “references”.

    Typical Irish journalism though to do it this way.

  18. What’s most annoying about this and nearly all other of these cases, it’s 99% either a family member or family friend who is the perpetrator. The worse thing that was ever done to protect children from this was ” stranger danger”… Stereotypes. I still hear people say it today, as if there are men in trench coats walking around snatching children…it’s trusted family and friends who do this. I work with abuse victims and I hear this every day sadly

  19. The 23 scumbags who gave character references should also be named and shamed.

    Also the judge need a good looking at for the sentence.

  20. Low-risk reoffending? How? Has he been physically and chemically castrated? Because if not, it’s a low-risk of getting caught/reported when he reoffends.

    Jfc

  22. >In addition, he has a very productive work life and has been employed by the same company for over 25 years.

    Imagine overlooking someone who molested a fucking 12 year old because he pays some taxes.

  24. Why has Ireland such a soft stance against pedos? Like we literally give them a slap on the wrist, is it to do with the church still or what?

    They are the lowest of low scum and don’t get treated like it atall!?

  27. Thats a ridiculously low sentence. He deserves much more. Something needs to be done about this, sentences are way too low here

  28. Just saying, this was a female judge, she had every ability and position of absolute power here to do more and to do it better. But she didn’t. The argument about the toxicity of males in society has to take situations like this into account. It’s not a gender conversation it’s a just a personality matrix and not all women are universally aligned based on their gender.

  29. If these references were allowed in court then they should be publicly accessible without the names redacted so that the community can decide on their validity. Not just this case but all cases, we need total transparency, especially, when it comes to the judiciary.

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