{"id":105574,"date":"2025-10-06T19:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/105574\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T19:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:16:16","slug":"young-man-raped-by-grandfather-figure-says-he-is-not-that-scared-little-child-any-more-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/105574\/","title":{"rendered":"Young man raped by \u2018grandfather figure\u2019 says he is \u2018not that scared little child any more\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young man who was raped as an 11-year-old boy has said he will not carry the guilt any more and is \u201creclaiming my voice, my story and my life\u201d. <\/p>\n

Devin O\u2019Donnell (19) was reading from his victim impact statement at the Central Criminal Court<\/a> sentencing of Joseph Campbell (63) of Castle Court, Daingean, Co Offaly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Campbell, who is the father of Mr O\u2019Donnell\u2019s stepmother, was jailed for 8\u00bd years on Monday.<\/p>\n

Fionnuala O\u2019Sullivan SC, prosecuting, told the court Mr O\u2019Donnell wishes to waive his right to anonymity so Campbell can be named publicly. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donnell said Campbell \u201cchanged how I experienced the world\u201d and \u201cplanted silence inside me\u201d. For a long time \u201cshame felt louder than my voice\u201d, he said, adding: \u201cBut I\u2019m not that scared little child any more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you did stole parts of my life that I will never get back. But you didn\u2019t take everything. You didn\u2019t take my strength … I am still here. And I\u2019m slowly learning that I was never the one who should have felt ashamed; you were,\u201d Mr O\u2019Donnell said. <\/p>\n

Campbell was convicted following a trial last June on what is termed as section 4 rape (anal rape) at Mr O\u2019Donnell\u2019s home in October 2017. He had denied the charges. Further charges of sexual assault perpetrated by Campbell on the victim in December 2021 were taken into account. <\/p>\n

On Monday, Ms Justice Ellen Ring noted Mr O\u2019Donnell\u2019s \u201cresilience\u201d and said he had faced many challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was preyed upon by a person whom he should have trusted. No child should have to have these experiences,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0New legal term: a woman\u2019s double murder trial, DJ Carey\u2019s fraud sentence and Conor McGregor\u2019s applicationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She said Campbell was \u201ca grandfather figure in the family structure\u201d and \u201cbreached the trust that such a role brings\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said he does not accept the verdict and has shown no insight or empathy for the victim. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe threatened an 11-year-old whose mother had just died \u2013 the psychological and emotional abuse that causes extends the physical harm,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Campbell has no previous convictions. <\/p>\n

Det Garda Suzanne Neary told the court about Mr O\u2019Donnell\u2019s Garda interviews in 2023, when he was 17 years old. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donnell had gone to live with his father and stepmother after his mother died, when he was aged eight.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Almost 20% increase in trial dates at Central Criminal Court, report findsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On one occasion in 2021, Campbell sexually assaulted him by touching his \u201cprivate parts over his clothes\u201d. The boy pushed Campbell away and ran off crying.<\/p>\n

He ran to his friend\u2019s home and contacted his aunt, who brought him to a Garda station to make a complaint. He stayed with her for a week but was forced to return to his father and stepmother. He ran away from home to live with his maternal grandmother and has lived there since, the court heard. <\/p>\n

During a second Garda interview in 2023, Mr O\u2019Donnell said the incident he previously disclosed was not the first time Campbell abused him. <\/p>\n

He said he was 11 years old when he was orally and anally raped by Campbell, who was sleeping in a spare bed in the boy\u2019s bedroom. <\/p>\n

He said Campbell warned him he would be put into care if he disclosed what happened. Mr O\u2019Donnell told garda\u00ed: \u201cI had the fear of God in me, so I stayed quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell was arrested and interviewed. He denied the allegation.<\/p>\n

On Monday, John Hayden SC, defending, said testimonials were written on his client\u2019s behalf. He said Campbell had been diagnosed as having a mild learning disability and significant mental health difficulties, including depression.<\/p>\n

Mr Hayden said a woman in Campbell\u2019s local community described him as someone who has always been respectful and caring and \u201ca great support\u201d to her son.<\/p>\n

A testimonial from Campbell\u2019s ex-wife, who is the mother of his three children, said Campbell loved and cherished all of her children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young man who was raped as an 11-year-old boy has said he will not carry the guilt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,65264,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,3171,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-105574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-central-criminal-court","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-offaly","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}