A seasoned Irish swimming trainer, Derry O’Rourke, faces sentencing this Tuesday over charges of sexual aggression and rape that took place three and a half decades ago against a teen girl. Seventy-eight year-old O’Rourke, who resides on Virginia Road, Cavan, had declared his innocence at the Central Criminal Court to one accusation of rape and 15 incidents of improper assault dating from October 1989 up till June 1990. The victim was 13 to 14 at the time when the events transpired.
Amid the trial, the jury received instructions from Ms Justice Melanie Greally to dispose of four charges against O’Rourke, leaving them to deliberate on one rape offence and 11 instances of indecent assault. It took the jury five hours and over 20 minutes to reach their verdict on July 18th. During the reading of the 12 guilty verdicts, O’Rourke showed no reaction.
O’Rourke’s criminal history involves a conviction for rape, for which he was imprisoned for 12 years in January 1998 after accepting guilt in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for 29 wrongdoings against 11 underage girls from 1976 to 1992. These incidents included defilement, sexual aggression, and indecent assault.
In August 2000, the court handed to O’Rourke a four-year jail sentence for 19 charges regarding six girls. These inappropriate and sexual assaults took place between July 1970 and December 1992. It involved one instance of oral sex and the girls, all coached by him, were aged from 10 to 19 years at the time.
In January 2005, he received another 10-year sentence, which was dated back to March 2000, after accepting guilt for two charges of rape and two instances of indecent assault between 1975 to 1978 related to another victim.