Mark Dolan was to all intents and purposes a hard-working mechanic and a father of three children.
He had worked all his life and owned a house with his ex partner. There was only a year left on their mortgage and it was being sold as part of the separation agreement. He had never been in trouble before.
Behind the façade, however, he was a sexual deviant, a flasher, who got his kicks from exposing himself to young children.
His secret was revealed this week in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court because he was caught last year.
Lewd act
Mark Dolan left his home in Athy in Co Kildare on Saturday 6 May 2023 and drove to Dublin in search of a sexual thrill. Four girls aged between six and eight were out playing that day in a cul-de-sac near their homes.
The 49-year-old parked his car nearby and walked past a school before spotting the four young children. He crossed the road and kept looking around to check whether anyone else was there.
He then opened his jeans, exposed his genitals and began masturbating in front of the children. He continued for approximately five minutes moving up and down the road three times.
When he walked back to his car, his penis was exposed and he appeared to be smiling.
The traumatised children ran home to their parents.
Dolan got into his car and drove off.
His crime, however, had been captured by a camera on a nearby house.
Arrest
It didn't take the gardaí long to track Mark Dolan down. The children’s parents went to the gardaí and they secured the CCTV footage which showed what happened. It also showed Dolan’s car registration number. He was arrested two days later.
Dolan initially claimed he opened his trousers that day because he had been bitten by an insect. However by his third garda interview, he had made some admissions but continued to try to minimise what he had done.
He denied masturbating and claimed his behaviour was related to a form of exhibitionism and that he had been pretending to urinate.
His story didn’t add up, his denials were not credible and he was charged with an offence contrary to Section 5(1) of the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Act, that he "did for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification from the presence of a child or corrupting or depraving a child, intentionally engaged in a sexual activity, namely, the act of masturbation".
Mark Dolan was brought before the Dublin District Court where he was granted bail in spite of garda objections.
However, he was unable to immediately abide by all the conditions and spent nine days in custody until he could.
Anonymity
Mark Dolan was anxious that his crimes not become public. Judge Brendan O'Reilly imposed reporting restrictions and banned the media from publishing his name or any other information that might identify him.
He is not the first to secure an anonymity order which was later overturned.
The aviation broker Anthony Lyons sexually assaulted a woman on Griffith Avenue in Dublin on 3 October 2010.
When the father-of-four was caught and brought before the district court he initially succeeded in having reporting restrictions imposed.
RTÉ challenged the order and successfully had it overturned. Lyons was named in the media, subsequently convicted and jailed for two years.
RTÉ also challenged the reporting restrictions imposed in the case of Mark Dolan, arguing there were no grounds for preventing the media from naming the accused. There were, it submitted, already legal provisions in place preventing the identification of children.
The Director of Public Prosecutions agreed and a State solicitor told the court that based on the facts of the case, he didn’t believe the children could be identified.
Dolan’s barrister Emily Walker argued that identifying Dolan could impact on him getting a fair trial.
She said that we live in a time of social media which attracts vigilantes and argued that once this information gets out, it is "uncontrollable" and can be prejudicial.
"The nature of this type of offence is very sensitive and evokes a heightened response from the public," she said.
However, after considering both arguments, Judge Cephas Power ruled that the reporting restrictions be lifted saying he was satisfied there was jurisdiction to vary the order.
Dolan was named in the media reports. The disclosure of his identity never affected his right to a fair trial. He knew what he had done. He knew he had been caught and ultimately, he admitted what he had done and pleaded guilty.
Traumatised children
The four young girls who were subjected to Dolan’s sexually abusive behaviour all suffered recurrent nightmares and don’t feel safe.
One six-year-old was no longer the happy, independent, secure, fun-loving little girl who loved playing with her friends. Dolan had stolen her innocence and security.
"I will never forget the look of fear and confusion on their faces when they knocked on my door to tell me about 'the bad man’," her mother said.
"Women and girls are subject to this type of crime all too often in Ireland. A clear message needs to be sent that this will not be tolerated."
Another child changed from a happy, sociable, confident little girl into someone who is worried, vulnerable, scared and has regular nightmares about "the man".
"It robbed her of her innocence," her mother said, "It will forevermore be her first sexual encounter. We will never be able to bring her back to before ‘the man’ cast a shadow in her life."
Dolan walks out of court
It was, his defence counsel said in court, "the lowest moment" of Mark Dolan’s life. He felt "rotten and disgusted" with himself, and he accepted it was a "despicable act" which had traumatised the children.
He had separated from his wife at the time and was soon to be divorced which had destroyed his self-esteem and mental health. He was living on his own with limited access to his children and working six days and three nights a week.
He has begun attending therapy to deal with emotional issues which had been building for a long time and is also on medication.
His lawyer also argued that Dolan’s reputation had been destroyed by the publicity arising from the case and that his ex-partner, current partner and their children have also been negatively affected.
Testimonials on his behalf were submitted from his current partner, his mother and two of his current employers.
Judge Martin Nolan said that for reasons known only to himself, Dolan had engaged in "deviant" behaviour on the day in question.
The judge noted the effect this offending had on the children involved and took into account a number of mitigating factors including Dolan's lack of criminal convictions.
He sentenced Mark Dolan to two-and-a-half-years in prison but suspended it on a number of conditions, including that Dolan not visit the area where his offending took place.
After the sentence hearing yesterday afternoon, Mark Dolan walked out of the Courts of Criminal Justice building.
'The victim is an afterthought'
The parents of the children abused by Mark Dolan feel let down by the justice system. The four mothers contacted RTÉ News to convey their anger and bitterness about what they feel is the leniency of the sentence.
The parents say they feel the experiences of these very young victims were not reflected in the sentence imposed. This is some of what the four mothers said:
"There was no mention of the nightmares they’ve suffered, the fear they feel when they see strange men or cars, that their innocence and security was stolen that day or that forevermore what happened will be their first sexual experience."
"None of that was mentioned. What was mentioned was the fact the perpetrator’s reputation has been damaged because of the media attention his crime rightfully received. The perpetrator’s reputation has been damaged because of his own disgusting behaviour."
"As a woman and a mother, I’m not surprised, because I am just a woman and a mother and this is how Ireland treats us. Shut up and get on with it and be kind to the poor man who has a good work record."
"We have seen a thousand cases far more serious, where the perpetrator is deemed an upstanding member of society. The victim is always an afterthought."
"This happens on every street corner up and down the country and doesn't get media coverage. It's a very sad place that we are in, in 2024, that once again, sex crimes against children are excused so as not to tarnish the good, hardworking man."
"I just hope his suspended sentence makes him think twice before harming any other little girls."
