Three of the women – Deirdre Boyhan, Aoife O’Dwyer and Sin\u00e9ad Nally – spoke to Midlands Correspondent Sin\u00e9ad Hussey about the two predator brothers and their 30-year journey to justice. <\/p>\n
In early May 2023, Deirdre Boyhan sat in the cathedral across from Mullingar Garda Station, clutching a bottle of Rescue Remedy.<\/p>\n
For 30 years, she had been hiding from the past.<\/p>\n
But something had changed within her, and she knew that this secret which she had kept buried for so long, had to be told.<\/p>\n
“I just thought, I have to do this. I’m going to walk across the road, and I am going to tell my story, and I have to let it take its course from there,” she said.<\/p>\n
At the counter in the public office, Ms Boyhan asked to speak to a detective and over the next few hours she recalled the horrific sexual abuse committed by Johnny and Martin Owens.<\/p>\n
“It became overwhelming,” Ms Boyhan explained. She was working as a special needs assistant at the time and “it took me completely by surprise”.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d027-614.jpg\"\/)
\nDeirdre Boyhan, pictured aged 16, felt she ‘was trying to keep a balloon under the water’<\/p>\n
“I was looking at these teenage kids, goofy and carefree, with not a care in the world.<\/p>\n
“It became far more apparent to me how wrong it was, what had happened to me.<\/p>\n
“I thought, I can’t keep this in, I felt like I was trying to keep a balloon under the water,” she said.<\/p>\n
That May evening, inside Mullingar Garda Station, Detective Garda Adrian O’Reilly sat with Ms Boyhan and listened to her recount the abuse she had suffered.<\/p>\n
She was just shy of 15 when the abuse began. It ended when she was 17.<\/p>\n
“He was amazing. He sat me down and we spoke at length. He listened to my story, to what I was telling him,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
She added: “He [Det Gda O’Reilly] was very understanding and caring and he explained how he was going to put me in contact with the Protective Services Unit.<\/p>\n
‘When she told me, I burst out crying’<\/p>\n
Before reporting the abuse, Ms Boyhan had begun contacting other women who she knew had babysat for Johnny and Martin Owens.<\/p>\n
What she didn’t know was her younger sister, Lorraine Kiernan, had also been sexually assaulted by Martin Owens.<\/p>\n
It was only during a conversation about the abuse Ms Boyhan had suffered and her decision to go the garda\u00ed, that she found out about Lorraine.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t know about her until I spoke to her and told her I was going to bring this forward.<\/p>\n
Watch: ‘It wasn’t actually my fault’ – Aoife O’Dwyer<\/p>\n
\n
“We hugged and we cried and we’re very close and people who know us as a family know that and I couldn’t get over this,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
Sin\u00e9ad Nally, Ms Boyhan’s neighbour and friend, also babysat for Johnny and Martin Owens.<\/p>\n
The women know each other all their lives and their families are close.<\/p>\n
Suspecting she too could have been a victim, Deirdre said she invited Sin\u00e9ad over for a chat and a cup of tea.<\/p>\n
![\"Sinead](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d093-614.jpg\"\/)
\nSin\u00e9ad Nally, pictured aged 16, thought the abuse only happened to her<\/p>\n
“When she told me, I burst out crying, because I thought it only ever happened me,” Ms Nally said.<\/p>\n
She went on to explain how she then felt guilty because she had got the job for Ms Boyhan.<\/p>\n
“When I left and went to college Deirdre took over from me, and I felt really bad, but I thought this was only happening to me, and it wasn’t going to happen anyone else.<\/p>\n
“You’re only a child, you don’t understand,” she sobbed.<\/p>\n
On 9 May 2023, Aoife O’Dwyer received a message on her Facebook messenger from Ms Boyhan.<\/p>\n
When the message appeared on her phone, she knew exactly what it was about.<\/p>\n
“Deirdre asked me to give her a call about something sensitive, and I knew straight away,” Ms O\u2019Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
Becoming emotional, she explained, that like Sin\u00e9ad, she thought she was the only one.<\/p>\n
For years, the mother-of-two had kept what had happened to her buried deep within, blaming herself for the abuse.<\/p>\n
“I developed very early; I was wearing a bra at 12. I blamed myself and I didn’t think anything happened to anyone else,” she said.<\/p>\n
Watch: ‘Free yourself from it’ – Deirdre Boyhan<\/p>\n
\n
After the initial contact, it took Ms O’Dwyer some time to share her story with Ms Boyhan.<\/p>\n
“I told Deirdre I was sorry it happened to her and that while he was a bit handsy with me, nothing had happened.<\/p>\n
“After the call, I gathered myself and I rang my partner. When he got home from work that night, I told him about the abuse,” she said.<\/p>\n
For around three weeks Ms O’Dwyer said she put on a brave face to the outside world but inside she was crumbling.<\/p>\n
“For 30 years, I always thought it was me, it was my fault, it was something about me.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d026-614.jpg\"\/)
\nSin\u00e9ad Nally in another image taken when she was aged 16<\/p>\n
“You have this secret and hope that no matter what, no one will ever find out.<\/p>\n
“You become paranoid, you don\u2019t like yourself, you feel disgusting. You just bury it and hope nobody will ever know,” she said.<\/p>\n
However, after speaking with her partner and her mother, Ms O’Dwyer decided to go to garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n
“When I started the process and spoke with Detective Garda Aidan Hynes, I began to realise, it’s not my fault, I didn’t do anything wrong.<\/p>\n
“We were children, we were just teenagers,” she added.<\/p>\n
‘Kings in their own castles’<\/p>\n
At the sentencing hearing of Johnny Owens last February, Justice Eileen Creedon said he had targeted the victims.<\/p>\n
She said his acts were gross violations, which took place on a continuous and extremely frequent basis.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Johnny Owens would repeatedly molest the girls whenever he got them alone.<\/p>\n
At the sentencing hearing of Martin Owens last month, Justice Tony Hunt said that he had groomed the girls and in the case of Ms Boyhan, plied her with alcohol.<\/p>\n
He said Martin Owens was a trusted employer in a well-known local business who had engaged in the sexual exploitation of two children who had put their trust in him.<\/p>\n
“You do feel vindicated and that was very important for us as a group. It took us a long time to find our voice.”<\/p>\n
He said these were not impulsive or youthful acts but were the actions of a mature person who would undoubtedly know what he was doing was wrong.<\/p>\n
“When Johnny and Martin Owens were working and living their lives, they knew the indelible mark they had left and the untold harm they did,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
Looking back now she said Johnny, who was married with children, was seen as a “decent fella”.<\/p>\n
“He didn\u2019t drink a whole pile” and then “he\u2019d drop us home, all the while he was trying to use us and abuse us,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Boyhan added: “Johnny in particular was well got. People loved the jack the lad way he went on.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, some of us knew two sides of him and it was suffocating to keep that in.<\/p>\n
“He was far too big of a character, and his brother was the same.”<\/p>\n
At the time of the abuse, Johnny Owens ran a successful business and provided huge employment in the area. Martin Owens, his brother, worked with him.<\/p>\n
“This was the 1990s. There wasn’t a load of money around,” Ms Nally said.<\/p>\n
![\"Middle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d02a-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMartin Owens was sentenced to five years in prison (pic: Westmeath Topic)<\/p>\n
She added: “In some houses, there were a few people from the one family working there so a lot of families were depending on them.”<\/p>\n
The women said locally the men were seen as pillars of the community, known for being hard-working and generous.<\/p>\n
“They sponsored so many local teams, when money was needed, they did so much,” Ms O\u2019Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
“They were definitely sitting as kings in their own castles, they were untouchable,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
And so, for 30 years, the women said nothing, but all of them were struggling in their own way to deal with what happened.<\/p>\n
When they decided to report the abuse in the summer of 2023, they knew a difficult journey lay ahead.<\/p>\n
Women accused of ‘doing it for money’<\/p>\n
In late 2023, Martin Owens was arrested and questioned. His brother Johnny was arrested in January 2024.<\/p>\n
When word of this began to filter through the local community, the women said they were subjected to false accusations, intimidation and hurtful comments.<\/p>\n
“We live in a small community, everybody knows everybody,” Ms Nally said.<\/p>\n
The women said they were accused of “doing it for money” while others told them that because it happened 30 years ago, they should “let it go”.<\/p>\n
“People said these men are pillars of the community and look at the employment they gave,” Ms Nally said.<\/p>\n
“Basically, people thought because these men employed a lot of people and gave money to the GAA, they could do what they want.<\/p>\n
“We were also told we were going to split the community over it,” she added.<\/p>\n
Even after the men were charged, the women said they continued to deny the allegations publicly.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d025-614.jpg\"\/)
\nJohn Owens was jailed last February for eight years (pic: Westmeath Topic)<\/p>\n
In the pub and in the workplace, they made light of the serious allegations they faced, the women said.<\/p>\n
Yet Ms O\u2019Dwyer stressed that “both Johnny and Martin Owens pleaded guilty in court”.<\/p>\n
“All of that emotionally is crushing, absolutely crushing and you have to pick yourself up each time,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
She added: “But the detective said from the start, trust the process and we had to trust the process.”<\/p>\n
Ms Boyhan said she was also questioned about why she took up a job at the business in later years.<\/p>\n
She explained that it came about after she returned from college and she was offered the job following a chance meeting between her father, a family friend and Johnny Owens in Mullingar.<\/p>\n
Despite her concerns, she said she “had no good reason to the outside world not to take the job”, considering she was unemployed and this was a job that was well-paid, local and in her field of studies.<\/p>\n
“I make no apology for working up there and I don’t need to justify that; it was of its time,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
Waiving their right to anonymity
\n![\"Survivors](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024c411-614.jpg\"\/)
\nThe women speaking to the media outside court in July<\/p>\n
On 27 July last, the women stood on the steps outside the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin, after waiving their right to anonymity.<\/p>\n
The criminal case had concluded and both men were identified.<\/p>\n
For the first time, Ms O\u2019Dwyer said they all felt a huge weight lifted off their shoulders.<\/p>\n
“I always wanted it in black and white, because so many people had doubted us.<\/p>\n
“I believed if it\u2019s printed and it’s in ink; people can\u2019t deny it. These men pleaded guilty to what they did, and people need to know that.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d024-614.jpg\"\/)
\n‘So many people had doubted us’, says Aoife O’Dwyer, pictured as a teenager<\/p>\n
Ms Boyhan said the lid had finally been lifted on the litany of abuse carried out by the brothers.<\/p>\n
She added: “You do feel that bit lighter. I watched many, many interviews with different people over the years, who have come forward and my heart would break.<\/p>\n
“I used to be straight back there and think, would I ever be able to speak about it?”<\/p>\n
With the court process now behind them, the women acknowledge the long-lasting impact the abuse has had on them.<\/p>\n
Watch: Sin\u00e9ad Nally discusses impact of abuse on school life<\/p>\n
\n
“We survived our lives for 30 years, not lived them,” Ms O\u2019Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
She added: “We had to bring everything that we buried so deep down to the surface. You have to deal with it; there\u2019s no burying it anymore.<\/p>\n
“It affects everyone around you, you\u2019ve to tell your family, your friends, your work colleagues and you are worried for them.”<\/p>\n
Becoming emotional, Ms Nally said she believes her life would have been different had she not been abused.<\/p>\n
“I built a wall around me, and no one got in. Even when it came to partners, I had awful problems.<\/p>\n
“I still have trust issues, and I never had children because I never met anyone until I was in my 40s. My life could have been so different,” she cried.<\/p>\n
Outpouring of support locally<\/p>\n
The women said that since the publicity around their case, there has been an outpouring of support.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve been getting so many messages, people have sent cards and letters, some are from people we don\u2019t even know,” Ms O\u2019Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
She added: “I had a woman call into me in work last week and she said she has met me every day in work for 20 years and I\u2019m always smiling.<\/p>\n
“She asked me, ‘how did I hide it?’ But that\u2019s what you do.”<\/p>\n
Ms Nally described it as putting “on a mask”.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve had girls who went to school with me come up and say that I was always in good form in school, but that was all a front,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Nally added: “It\u2019s like you overcompensate to make people think you\u2019re really normal.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024d02b-614.jpg\"\/)
\nLorraine Kiernan, who is the sister of Deirdre Boyhan, pictured at age 14<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s great to get the support now because we have been through the ringer with the attitude at the beginning when all this came out.”<\/p>\n
“You do feel vindicated and that was very important for us as a group,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
“It took us a long time to find our voice,” she added.<\/p>\n
The women are now urging anyone impacted by sexual abuse to seek support, and they are hoping their story will show others that justice is possible.<\/p>\n
“We found the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre brilliant, they were there for us throughout,” Ms O\u2019Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
“If your case is brought forward and you end up in court, they are invaluable. We had no idea of the work they did, they have been incredible,” Ms Boyhan added.<\/p>\n
The women said they decided to speak out, not only for themselves, but for others.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re very ordinary people but this is attainable,” Ms Boyhan said.<\/p>\n
She added: “From day one I said to the detective, I don\u2019t have anything to lose. I came armed with the truth and that\u2019s all we have.<\/p>\n
“It is a slow process, and people are innocent until they are proven guilty, and we understand that.<\/p>\n
“But if it is something that hasn\u2019t gone away for you personally, speak to somebody, and free yourself from it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 27 July last, two brothers from the midlands who sexually assaulted teenage girls in the mid-1990s were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-587745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587745","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=587745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}