{"id":340547,"date":"2026-03-11T13:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/340547\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:01:11","slug":"former-judge-appeals-conviction-for-attempted-rape-and-sexual-abuse-of-six-young-men-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/340547\/","title":{"rendered":"Former judge appeals conviction for attempted rape and sexual abuse of six young men \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Circuit Court<\/a> judge who was convicted in December 2023 of attempted rape and the sexual abuse of six young men when he was a teacher in the 1990s has appealed his conviction.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Gerard O\u2019Brien (61) argued that the trial judge\u2019s instructions to the jury were \u201cconfusing\u201d and \u201cweighted against the defence\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also said the tone of the charge \u201cstrayed into conveying the impression\u201d that the judge held a view in respect of the charges and that the jury may have felt under pressure after the judge told them they could deliberate on Christmas Eve, if necessary.<\/p>\n

However, the State side said the suggestion that there were personal views expressed in the judge\u2019s charge was \u201cmisconceived\u201d and urged the Court of Appeal<\/a> to uphold O\u2019Brien\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien, of Old School House, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co Tipperary<\/a>, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court<\/a> of one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault in relation to six victims. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. <\/p>\n

The offences occurred at locations in Dublin<\/a> between March 1991 and November 1997, when O\u2019Brien was aged between 27 and 33 and working as a teacher at CBC Monkstown. <\/p>\n

The victims \u2013 four of whom were students or former students of O\u2019Brien \u2013 were then aged between 17 and 24. The six victims have previously indicated they wished for O\u2019Brien to be named, but want to maintain their anonymity.<\/p>\n

The defendant resigned as a Circuit Court judge, having been appointed in 2015, but had been on leave since the allegations came to light. He was jailed for four years in May 2024<\/a> by Judge Alexander Owens. <\/p>\n

Imposing sentence, Owens said O\u2019Brien was \u201cunsuitable to hold office\u201d. He said O\u2019Brien appeared to \u201cblame others for his predicament\u201d and feels \u201che is the one manipulated, not the manipulator\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s legal team submitted at his sentencing hearing that a psychological report stated their client was psychologically vulnerable, had limited coping skills, had suffered episodes of major depressive disorder and had \u201cunmet sexual needs due to being gay in a homophobic society, and his disability\u201d.<\/p>\n

Opening the appeal against conviction on Tuesday, Hugh Hartnett, counsel for O\u2019Brien, said there were a number of \u201cdistinct issues\u201d with the content of the trial judge\u2019s charge to the jury. He said the overarching complaint was that the directions were confusing and weighted against the defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say the errors are of such importance as to render the appellant\u2019s trial unfair, when considered individually, but also cumulatively,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

Hartnett argued the charge was \u201cunbalanced\u201d and that on numerous occasions the judge suggested that matters relied on by the defence were \u201cunimportant\u201d or \u201cof less weight\u201d.<\/p>\n

Counsel referred to a comment made to the jury that it was important they did not \u201center into a parallel universe of make-belief in relation to matters\u201d, which he said had the effect of discrediting O\u2019Brien\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n

Counsel also suggested that the judge gave a \u201cconfusing\u201d warning to the jury regarding the legal principle that lies told by a defendant do not automatically indicate guilt.<\/p>\n

Hartnett also suggested there had been time pressure on the jury, as the trial took place close to Christmas. The judge told the jurors that they could deliberate on Christmas Eve, if necessary. Although this was presented as an option, Hartnett said the effect may have been to place pressure on the jury to reach a verdict.<\/p>\n

He also argued the judge erred in refusing an application for separate trials. The defence had sought to divide the case into two trials, as the number of complainants and witnesses could risk \u201coverwhelming\u201d the jury and prejudicing O\u2019Brien\u2019s right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

In response, Anne-Marie Lawlor, counsel for the State, said the suggestion that there were personal views expressed in the trial judge\u2019s charge was \u201cmisconceived\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said there were no personal views expressed in relation to the appellant\u2019s guilt or innocence. She said a submission that there had been a \u201cdiscrediting\u201d of O\u2019Brien evidence was entirely without merit. <\/p>\n

The jury was advised by the judge that it was entitled to reject the testimony of any witness in the case, Lawlor said.<\/p>\n

Addressing the application for separate trials, counsel said there was \u201cno magic number\u201d or \u201ctipping point\u201d where a court will not permit a trial of connected matters. <\/p>\n

She asked the court to make a \u201ccorrect and proper\u201d finding that there was no issue raised in the appeal that would cause the court to quash the conviction. <\/p>\n

Judge John Edwards said the three-judge court would reserve judgment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Circuit Court judge who was convicted in December 2023 of attempted rape and the sexual abuse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42851,13553,10202,615,61,60,43,9123],"class_list":["post-340547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-central-criminal-court","tag-circuit-court","tag-court-of-appeal","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-tipperary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}