Brother jailed for ‘deliberate exploitation of younger sister’
A man was this week jailed for three years for the sexual abuse of his younger sister in rural Galway over 60 years ago in what the judge described as ‘a deliberate exploitation of a much younger sister’.
Sean Monaghan (79) of The Harbour, Marketpoint, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to eight counts of indecent assault of Julie Fogarty in their family home on dates between 1962 and 1963. Monaghan was 15 to 16 years old at the time while his sister was between 10 and 11 years old.
Ms Fogarty – now 74 years old – was not in court as she is currently in hospital, but Diarmuid Collins SC, prosecuting, indicated to the court that she wishes to waive her right to anonymity. Her family were in court to represent her.
Sentencing Monaghan on Monday, Justice Kerida Naidoo addressed Ms Fogarty’s family directly in court to explain that he was restricted in sentencing, as Monaghan has to be sentenced under the laws which existed at the time.
The offences that Monaghan pleaded guilty to carry a maximum penalty of two years, but the court has the discretion to impose consecutive terms.
Mr Justice Naidoo said he had to further reduce any term imposed because of Monaghan’s age at the time, which reduced his moral culpability.
He said Monaghan’s abuse of Ms Fogarty was “a deliberate exploitation of a much younger sister”. And he added that, in his view, the maximum penalty available was “insufficient”, noting the offending involved “an ongoing course of conduct”.
Mr Justice Naidoo said had the offending occurred today it would have led to much longer sentence being imposed – and addressing Ms Fogarty’s family in court, he said: “Please convey to her that I hope this brings some finality for her.”
The Judge said that a victim impact statement before the court ‘painfully conveyed’ the impact of the abuse on Ms Fogarty.
She had said the abuse changed her life forever – that she never felt clean and felt she had “a secret”.
The court heard that Ms Fogarty told her husband about the abuse in 1978 and told her mother in 1997.
She wrote to her brother in 1998 and Monaghan admitted his wrongdoing, but when a solicitor’s letter followed, he denied the allegations and maintained he had been blackmailed into making the earlier admissions.
The woman made a formal complaint to Gardaí in 2014, but she did not pursue it further until 2024 when she made a statement to Gardaí.
When Monaghan was arrested, he ultimately made admissions but initially said he was blackmailed into making admissions previously.
Vincent Heneghan SC defending said his client made admissions in a letter in reply to his sister and also wrote to his other siblings later, again taking responsibility for the abuse.
Counsel asked the court to accept that his client pleaded guilty at the “earliest opportunity” having “come clean” during garda interviews.
Mr Heneghan said his client has prostate cancer and is awaiting surgery for a cataract.