Former Fianna Fáil councillor Anthony Vesey, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage boy in a hotel bedroom in Co Kerry during an education conference, has received a suspended two-year prison sentence and has been placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Judge Carrol Moran said 52-year-old Vesey from Belturbet, Co Cavan, had taken enormous liberties but noted he was unlikely to offend again.
Anthony Vesey had been a delegate at an Irish Vocational Educational Committee Conference at the Malton Hotel in Killarney in September 2007, when he was arrested by gardaí on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in a bedroom of the hotel.
Tralee Circuit Criminal Court was told that the teenager was working with a catering company serving drinks at the hotel.
He went to the former Fianna Fáil councillor and one-time chairman of Cavan County Council's bedroom because he was under the impression the defendant needed his help.
However, Vesey started to kiss the teenager telling him that Slovakia was a very special country for him, and that he had had a boyfriend there previously.
He also opened the teenager's trousers. The teenager asked him to stop and he did. On leaving the room, he reported the matter to his supervisors and to the hotel duty manager.
The court was told today that since then Vesey had been forced to close his shop, had suffered some social isolation, embarrassment and with the loss of his business and council seat had suffered severe financial consequences and a loss of standing in the community where he had been held in high regard.
In a victim impact statement, the injured party said he had had to leave the hotel agency where he worked as his confidence had been shaken, that he could no longer interact easily with older men but had recovered well since.
Compensation has since been paid.
Defence Senior Counsel David Sutton handed in medical reports to the court which outlined how Vesey, who had previous heterosexual relationships and had a teenage son, had had difficulties accepting his homosexuality. He now accepted his homosexuality.
Paedophilia was not an issue, according to the psychologist's report.
Character witness and retired secondary school principal Brendan McCann said the offence had come as a ‘great shock to the community’ in Belturbet where Vesey was a wonderful family man and enjoyed very high standing.
Handing down a two-year suspended sentence, Judge Moran said this was a serious incident of sexual assault.
He said the accused had taken enormous liberties and had imposed himself in a most unacceptable manner.
However, he noted Vesey had no previous convictions or paedophile tendencies, that there was a low risk of reoffending, that he was remorseful and had suffered and that there was a suggestion he had misinterpreted signals.
Judge Moran praised the injured party's ‘very Christian attitude’.
However, the seriousness of the offence merited a prison sentence, he said, and he imposed a two-year suspended sentence and placed Vesey on the sex offenders register for five years.
