Former IABA president sentenced to 39 months for sexual assault

The former president of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) been jailed for 39 months for sexually assaulting and taking a picture of the genitals of a 19-year-old woman who thought of him as a "father figure".

In sentencing at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Eugene O’Kelly said that Gerard O'Mahony, 67, who is also a former town councillor, had suffered a spectacular "fall from grace".

He jailed O'Mahony of Murphy Place, Abbeyside, Dungarvan in Co Waterford for four years, suspending the final nine months of the sentence arising out of his advanced age, poor health and previous good character.

Judge O'Kelly said that the victim had given evidence that she felt "groomed" by O'Mahony in a "slow deliberate process." O'Mahony gave the young woman, who is now in her thirties, alcohol when she was underage.

Judge O'Kelly said far from an "intermittent act of kindness" as suggested by the defence, the giving of alcohol to an underage teenager was a serious and aggravating factor in the case.

O'Mahony was remanded in custody in October after a jury of ten men and two women took just under four hours to unanimously convict him of a charge of sexually assaulting the young woman.

The jurors at the five day trial had been told that O'Mahony breached the trust of the young woman in the worst way possible.

The complainant reported that O'Mahony spiked her drink when she called him for a lift before partially stripping her and sexually assaulting her. He also took a picture of her vagina.

The sexual assault of the teenager occurred on a date unknown between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010. The victim wishes to retain her right to anonymity. However, she wanted O'Mahony to be named.

In June of this year O'Mahony stepped