A former trainee teacher has been jailed for five years after he admitted sexually assaulting two 12-year-old boys.
Daniel Connolly, 24, of Ardnatrush, Glengarriff, Co Cork, trained to be a teacher at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, but left after a year because he did not agree with the college's Catholic ethos.
Gardaí uncovered details of the abuse after they were contacted by police in Australia, where Connolly fled to after he had abused the children.
He used his relationship with two families he befriended to single out and sexually abuse two 12-year old boys.
The abuse came to light after one of the boys complained to one of his parents, but no complaint was made to gardaí at the time.
Connolly apologised to his victims but he said he could not apologise for his sexual inclinations.
In his evidence, Garda Superintendent Thomas Dixon said Connolly had shown no remorse for the abuse.
