An 82-year-old man has been jailed for two years for having sexual intercourse with a woman suffering from progressive dementia.
Brendan Rogan, 82, of the Demesne, Longford, appeared before Longford Circuit Court after pleading guilty to a sexual act with a protected person on the grounds of recklessness.
At a sentence hearing before Judge Kenneth Connolly, it was heard that Mr Rogan, who was 77 at the time, had engaged in sexual intercourse with his 55-year-old victim on dates unknown between 1 December 2019 and 26 March 2020.
The victim had been diagnosed at an early age with frontotemporal dementia and was not in a fit state to consent to the sexual intercourse, the court heard.
It was on 26 March 2020 at 10.05am that gardaí responded to a call from the victim's husband who said that, when he got home, he had found his wife in the bedroom of the house with the accused, partially clothed.
The victim's husband had been out of the house for approximately 20 minutes.
The victim told gardaí that she was friendly with the accused's wife and that Mr Rogan had told her to call him when the house was empty.
She also told gardaí that Mr Rogan had had sex with her three or four times in the space of a few months.
The woman's daughter also gave a statement to gardaí in which she said she had been in touch with Mr Rogan and asked him not to contact her mother.
She said she was concerned for her mother's welfare and had deleted Mr Rogan's number out of her phone on several occasions.
A letter of apology read out to the victim's family in court indicated that Mr Rogan wished to apologise "sincerely and unreservedly" for his behaviour.
"I now realise how much I hurt you and your family by being reckless," he said, adding that he was "utterly remorseful" and "I made a big mistake".
The victim's daughter, reading a victim impact statement in court last week, said her mother relied on a steady stream of family and carers to keep her fed, washed and safe and that she was rarely left alone.
On this occasion, she was less than an hour on her own.
"We thought the main dangers came in the form of falls or maybe scalds from hot water. Only in our worst nightmares did we think that someone would victimise a woman so obviously unwell in a sexual way," she said.
"Sadly, Brendan Rogan and his perverted action's awoke us from that naivety. My mother's life was changed immeasurably by Brendan Rogans deviant actions.
"We, her family, were left feeling guilty that we couldn't protect her, and we were forced to concede that our desire to keep her in her own home as long as possible was not realistic because, despite our best efforts, Brendan Rogan's assault on her burst that bubble of safety and caused her harm in that very home."
The family were left with no choice but to enter her into a nursing home at the age of 56 and "our hearts broke for her all over again", she said.
Passing judgment, Judge Connolly said that, although Mr Rogan's advanced age was of primary consideration to the court in sentencing, and he came before the court with no previous convictions, this was "exceptionally serious offending".
"This was a crime of utter repulsion to any norm of understanding," he said.
"This was an utterly despicable breach of trust, especially in circumstances where the victim's daughter had gone out of her way to ask that he not contact her mother.
"He disrespected her in disregarding her wishes and he disrespected her mother by subjecting her to this utterly gross behaviour," he said.
He noted that this was not a one-off offence and he did not accept that Mr Rogan did not know there was anything wrong with the victim.
He proceeded to sentence Mr Rogan to four years in prison.
When considering suspending a portion of the sentence, he noted that many would see it as no benefit to society to imprison an 82-year-old man.
"I, however, take the view that this crime is simply too heinous and repulsive to avoid a custodial element," he said, opting to suspend only the final two years of the sentence.
"I have to say I regret having to impose an immediate custodial sentence but I would be letting the victim down if I didn't," he concluded.
