A teenager has told how she felt overwhelming guilt over reporting a sports coach who raped her, until she heard him deny everything at his trial.
She said she realised how he had manipulated her and how she had done the right thing in reporting him.
The girl, now in her late teens, told the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Monday that she had waited almost six years for equestrian coach William Connolly to go on trial on a series of charges following his abuse of her at various locations in Co Cork.
Connolly (68) of Grasslands, Rathcoursey, Midleton, Co Cork, had denied three counts of rape, two counts of oral rape, four of sexual assault and one count of exploitation of a child for the purpose of sexual activity on various dates between August and December 2019.
But the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all three counts of rape, one count of oral rape, two counts of sexual assault and the exploitation of a child for the purpose of sexual activity charge after 11 hours and 55 minutes of deliberation.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford remanded Connolly in custody.
Investigating officer Sgt Kieran Crowley explained gardaí were alerted when the girl’s mother found two inappropriate texts from Connolly on her daughter’s phone.
The abuse began at the equestrian centre and he sexually assaulted her in his jeep, sometimes after plying her with Bulmers cider.
Sgt Crowley said Connolly, who had no previous convictions, made no admissions when arrested for questioning other than ultimately accepting he sent inappropriate texts.
In her victim impact statement, the girl told how for six years she had waited for the trial to take place and how she would lay awake at night and wonder if anyone would believe her.
“When I was 14 years old, William Connolly was my coach. He groomed me and sexually assaulted me for a long time,” she said.
“I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt that I told his secret. Up until I saw him again on the first day of the trial, I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry that I was putting him and his family through this, but when he went up on to the stand and I had to listen to him deny everything that we both knew had happened, it was devastating for me.
“To hear that he accused me of coming on to him, and that all I said was fantasies and lies, made me realise that after all this time, I didn’t feel bad any more. I felt proud to be there standing up for myself, and I no longer saw him as the kind man that helped me with the pony.”
She said he knew she would not say anything as she lived to go to the riding school.
“I loved that pony, and he never failed to mention how quick that would go away if I told his secret.”
Ms Justice Lankford commended the girl for her courage in taking the stand. She remanded Connolly in custody for sentence on February 13th.