January 2019 Perverted stable owner who raped and sexually assaulted teen girl over period of three years in Clare jailed for five years A perverted stable owner who raped and sexually assaulted a teen girl has been jailed for five years. Ger Hehir was ­convicted after a retrial of four sexual assaults and one charge of raping the girl on dates between 2010 and 2013. Predator Hehir, 58, of Drumcavan, Ruan, Co Clare had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court. Judge Robert Eagar jailed him to seven years for the rape but suspended the final 18 months. This is on the condition he engages with a sexual offender’s program, keeps the peace and is of good behaviour in prison and for three years upon his release. He also sentenced Hehir to five years behind bars for each sexual assault. All sentences are to run ­concurrent and are backdated to November 21, 2018 when he went into custody after conviction. His trial had heard the first sexual assault occurred in late 2010 when the girl was 16. She was leaving one of his stables when Hehir pinned her up against a wall, put his hands up her top and tried to kiss her. He raped the girl in 2010 after inviting her for a smoke in his room. When she told Hehir she was only 17, he replied: “You may be only 17, but you’re years above your age.” She was actually 16. Reading her victim impact statement, the girl told Hehir: “You ruined everything.” She said the only way to cope was through drink and drugs and told the sex beast: “I feel you still don’t understand the devastating effect this has had on me.”