National: Jury finds judge guilty of attempted rape and sexual assault of six young men

A CIRCUIT Court judge who was a form teacher in a Dublin secondary school has been found guilty of one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault against six complainants in the 1990s.

There was no reaction from Gerry O’Brien when the jury returned the guilty verdicts in the Central Criminal this Friday evening.

The jurors had been deliberating for 7 hours and 37 minutes before delivering their verdicts. 

The four-week trial came to its closing stages this week with Mr Justice Alexander Owens delivering his charge to the jury. 

Mr O’Brien, aged 59, of Old School House, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault.

The charges related to offences which occurred on dates between March 1991 and November 1997 at locations in Co. Dublin.

The former solicitor was in his 30s at the time of the alleged offences, while the six complainants - all young men - were then aged between 17 and 24.

During the trial, the court heard Mr O’Brien was appointed a Circuit Court judge in 2015 and had worked as a solicitor for over 20 years before his appointment. 

It was the prosecution case that the six complainants were “each and separately the victim of sexual misconduct” perpetrated by Mr O’Brien between 1991 and 1997.  

The defendant was teaching in a secondary school at the time, and four of the complainants were students.