A former Clare minor Gaelic football captain has been jailed for two years and four months for the sexual assault of a woman.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed the 28-month prison term on Conor Gavin (32) of Paradise, Ballynacally, Co Clare, for the sexual assault of the woman at a house in Co Clare on July 18th, 2021.
The hearing was told Gavin captained the Clare minor Gaelic football team in 2011 and has also coached in recent years.
Gavin is a first-time offender and in sentencing, the judge said Gavin sexually assaulted the woman after making the “very bizarre”, “inappropriate” and “not rational” decision to strip down to his shorts and get into a bed, uninvited, with two women.
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“There isn’t much scope for rehabilitation when one doesn’t accept that there is an offence,” the judge said.
Gavin will be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register and will “suffer all of the disgrace that someone receives who has committed a sexual offence”.
The judge said that there is limited mitigation in the case as Gavin has not expressed any remorse for his offence or apologised to the victim.
Gavin denied the charge but was found guilty by a jury in February.
In her victim impact statement, the injured party told the court that she is hopeful that after the sentencing “I will be able to move on with my life and close this chapter of what I can only describe as a horror story I never asked to be part of”.
Reading from the statement in court, she said: “All I ever wanted was an apology and for Conor Gavin to admit what he had done to me and say sorry.
“I never got that and that is really hard. Conor Gavin had the audacity to take the stand during the trial and deny what was done to me. That to me is unacceptable and leaves a detrimental impact on my mental health.”
In sentencing, the judge said that the offence involved the digital penetration of a vagina which he said was “high on the scale of intensity”.
Counsel for Gavin, Patrick Whyms, said that his client accepts and will not appeal the jury verdict.
Mr Whyms said that on the night Gavin had six pints in the pub and brought cans of Bulmer’s cider back to the house.
He said his client consumed a lot of drink and his drinking “must have been a factor in the poor decision making to go into the bedroom, take off most of his clothing and get into the bed with two female persons”.
Mr Whyms said Gavin has a good work history and currently works at a manufacturing plant in Shannon.
