Man jailed following guilty verdict in sexual assault trial
A man who was found guilty of a number sexual assault charges has been jailed for five years and six months following a sitting of Longford Circuit Court this morning.
Michael King (52), of 10 Warren View, Boyle, Co Roscommon, faced a lengthy trial in Roscommon Circuit Court earlier this year where 12 jurors unanimously found him guilty of 12 separate sexual assault charges on various dates between December 2004 and September 2005.
Those included six counts of kissing, one count of putting her hand on his knee, two counts of touching her bottom, two counts of putting her hand on his penis and one count of performing oral sex on her.
In a short letter read in court, Mr King said he was sorry for the “anguish and upset” he had caused to Tara Kelly, who was a teenager at the time of the offences. He also apologised to Ms Kelly’s parents and family.
“It was never my intent to make you feel the way you feel. I’m so sorry for the pain you’ve been feeling over the years,” he said.
Letters read out by various members of Mr King’s family expressed shock at his offending and sorrow at the distress caused to Ms Kelly.
Within the letters, the father of six was referred to as “an excellent father”, “a great provider” and “a rock to all his family”.
Defending barrister, Ms Dara Foynes told Judge Kenneth Connolly that her client “has blighted the lives of his six children”.
“And he has blighted the two families who used to be very close,” she added.
Judge Kenneth Connolly this morning noted that the maximum applicable sentence in respect of each count on the indictment is 14 years imprisonment.
This was a “horrific case” and a “tragic case”, he said, but what struck him was “the sheer radius of destruction that occurred”, with the effect of Mr King’s offending having “a particularly far reach” due to the closeness of the families, both personally and geographically.
“There was a very close bond and this was a severe breach of trust,” said Judge Connolly.
“There was such a radius of destruction caused by the sinister and selfish acts of Mr King. These were deliberate acts for an adult that should have known better.
“He has destroyed many lives, particularly for Tara Kelly and the wider Kelly family, as well as the King family.”
Judge Connolly noted that there was no plea of guilty to any of the 12 charges on the indictment.
“I am not allowed to take that as an aggravating factor,” he admitted, “but in this nature of case, obviously a plea of guilty would attract significant mitigation because it relieves the victim of the stress of a trial.
“Unfortunately, therefore, Tara Kelly had to go through her evidence and she was incredibly brave in coming forward and incredibly brave in giving her evidence.”
He expressed his hope that Ms Kelly would find some comfort in the jury verdict delivered in March of this year.
“There were 12 counts on the indictment and there were 12 jurors and all unanimously believed Tara Kelly did not consent to any of these acts,” he said, also commending Ms Kelly for the bravery of waiving her anonymity so that her assailant could be named.
Judge Connolly noted that Mr King’s estranged wife had written a letter “beseeching me not to impose a custodial sentence, but the court’s hands are tied”.
Aggravating factors taken into account include “the sheer radius of destruction caused to the two families” and the “extreme breach of respect and breach of trust of a family member” while Mr King was entrusted with Ms Kelly’s care.
He also considered the nature, extent and duration of the offending behaviour.
“Ms Foynes said the duration wasn’t terribly long,” he said, referring to mitigation put forward by Mr King’s defence.
“That is difficult for a victim to hear because any duration of abuse is too long, whether it be a second, a minute, an hour, or in this case, nine months. I don’t accept that ‘only nine months’ is a short period when we talk about abuse.”
The abuse, he said, escalated “quite significantly, from kissing and touching to much more serious acts, including encouraging her to touch his penis, masturbating him to ejaculation and the very serious act of performing oral sex on Ms Kelly”.
Judge Connolly commented that the offending behaviour may have come to an end “by reasons of geography and not by will” after the family moved house, but he noted that he could not consider that an aggravating factor.
Further aggravating factors included the fact that this was not a one-off offence, but nine months of abuse, which escalated all the time and the fact Mr King offered limited cooperation with Gardaí in the investigation of his case.
“Ms Kelly told me she suffered a period of chronic pain all over her body and had an emotional breakdown when the pain was so unbearable,” he said, noting the injured party has also suffered panic attacks.
“She went through considerable therapy in the UK, including one year of therapy with the Rape Crisis Centre.”
Cases like this, Judge Connolly noted, are sometimes described as “historical abuse cases”.
“I don’t like that at all. Although the events are historic, the effects are permanent.”
There was also a “significant age disparity” with Mr King aged 33 to 34 at the time of offending, while his victim was 16.
“Ms Foynes put it to me that there wasn’t established dominance, but there was certainly older relative control and older relative judgement in place,” said Judge Connolly.
“He was certainly aware of Tara’s age and he was certainly aware of Tara’s innocence but he continued to call it a consensual romance, which we now know it was not.
“The defence argued that Tara had consented at all times, that this was something she encouraged and wanted and that she then changed her mind retrospectively. We now know that wasn’t the case.
“It is disappointing to the court that the probation report states he said he and the victim had a brief, consensual sexual relationship,” Judge Johnson continued.
“But it is encouraging to the court to see work has already begun in the context of sexual consent. One must have the capacity and the emotional maturity to consent. Mr King has taken that on board.”
However, there was no remorse in the context of the Probation report, he added.
“It does state that he recognises the pain he caused but there is no acknowledgement of guilt and no remorse throughout,” said Judge Connolly.
Mitigating factors included the fact Mr King has no previous convictions and has not come to adverse Garda attention since these offences.
He has an “excellent work history and work ethic” and testimonials from his family “speak of an excellent father, husband, son and indeed citizen”.
Mr King offered some cooperation to Gardaí, admitting that a relationship had taken place, and giving details of events which corroborated the evidence of Ms Kelly.
The effect on his family, the fact he lost his marriage and his community standing, as well as his employment, were also taken into account.
“He has penned an apology. I have to say it’s a short apology and it’s not a very fulsome apology but the court will accept the apology for what it is. It has not been accepted by Tara Kelly,” said Judge Connolly.
Turning to sentencing, Judge Connolly noted each charge attracted a maximum sentence of 14 years.
“I’m of the view that the matter is much too serious to consider concurrent sentences and I intend to impose consecutive sentences,” he said.
For one of the kissing charges, Judge Connolly sentenced Mr King to 18 months imprisonment. Five other kissing charges, one count of placing the victim’s hand on his knee and two counts of touching her bottom were all marked taken into consideration in respect of the first charge.
The 12th count on the indictment was considered “the most serious” by the court. That count was a charge of sexual assault whereby Mr King performed oral sex on Ms Kelly.
Judge Connolly imposed a consecutive sentence of six years imprisonment and marked two counts of Mr King putting the victim’s hand on his penis as taken into consideration in respect of count 12.
He reduced the total sentence of seven and a half years to six years and six months before suspending the final 12 months for a period of three months. The sentence was backdated to March 29, 2023, when Mr King was first remanded in custody.
