A former Irish Olympic swimming coach has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a young athlete he was training.
Keith Francis Burns, from Silverhill in Enniskillen, has also been placed on the sex offenders’ register.
The 64-year-old has coached athletes for over 40 years, including at three Olympic Games and the Special Olympics.
He had denied assaulting the young girl from 1994, when she was aged 13, until 2002.
However last month he was found guilty of all but two of the nine indecent assault charges against him.
His victim, who is now aged 25, met her former coach in a bar along with her parents, and secretly taped a conversation during which he confessed he was guilty of four or five serious offences, going on to admit that he had done 'things which should not have happened.'
However during his trial he argued that this confession was a misunderstanding, claiming that he thought he was being accused of massaging a sports injury, which would have been in breach of coaching guidelines and protocols.
In addition to his being placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. Burns has been banned for life from working with children or coaching or teaching females under the age of 18.
