michael byrne Child Sexual Abuser

December 2014 Paedophile loses appeal bid A former secondary school teacher, who abused a boy while in a position of esteem and authority, has had an application to review his sentence rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Michael Byrne (77), of Rosewell, Templerainey, Arklow, pleaded guilty to four sample counts of indecent assault on a boy aged between 11 and 15 on dates between 1975 and 1978.

He was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment with the final four suspended by Judge Michael O’Shea at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court on April 10, 2014.

His victim Cormac Walsh spoke of his delight outside the Court of Appeal last Friday following Byrne’s failed bid to apply for a review of his sentence.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Seán Ryan said Byrne was a secondary school teacher at the time of the offences.

That was a matter of real significance which gave him a position of esteem and responsibility in his own community and authority over his young victim.

He said the offending occurred in a number of different venues over the period of years he mentioned.

It began with ‘what we know now as calculated grooming behaviour and progressed getting gradually more intrusive and gradually more offensive’, Mr Justice Ryan said.

First there was touching or groping and that developed into circumstances where the accused masturbated the boy.

This happened on a regular and frequent basis over the period of years, the judge said.

It involved not just abuse of power and authority but deceit, Mr Justice Ryan said.

The boy had had a medical condition for which he was being treated and the accused exploited this for his nefarious ends by saying he needed to get sperm samples to check the boy’s condition.

Byrne pursued this policy over a long period of time giving credence to the deceit by actually collecting samples and it got worse.

He told the boy that the quality of the sample would be better if the boy was more aroused, Mr Justice Ryan said.

In sentencing Byrne, Judge Michael O’Shea said the abuse was cold, calculated, premeditated and he could only describe Byrne’s conduct as that of a predator, Mr Justice Ryan said.

Judge O’Shea had said it was ‘revolting, horrific, disgusting, embarrassing, and humiliating’, Mr Justice Ryan said.

The court rejected arguments submitted by Byrne’s counsel, Patrick Gageby SC, that this wasn’t ‘the worst of crimes’ and therefore should have started at a point lower than two years for each count.

The individual acts taken as a whole and in context were legitimately viewed as being at the top of the scale, Mr Justice Ryan said.

Having reached the total of eight years imprisonment Judge O’Shea applied ‘a generous reduction of a full half of that period of time’, Mr Justice Ryan said.

That seemed to the Court of Appeal to represent an allowance that adequately covered all the points that might be made in mitigation for Byrne.

Mr Justice Ryan said it would have been perfectly proper for Judge O’Shea to take consecutive sentences into account and he did.

It seemed the ultimate result would not have been different by the mode or method that he adopted.

In the circumstances the court was not satisfied that there was any error in principle and the court consequently rejected Byrne’s appeal.

Mr Justice Ryan also emphasised the victim impact report made by Mr Walsh.

He said the sentencing court had ‘a most powerful exposition of the impact on the victim in this case and how, although making a very considerable success in his life, he had found himself in his mid-forties having a major crisis’.

Mr Justice Ryan said it was ‘powerful, poignant and impressive’.

It clearly impressed the learned Circuit Court Judge as it would have in any court.

The court heard that Byrne’s victim had confronted him and had obtained ‘substantial admissions’ on video and audio.

Mr Gageby had argued that the sentencing judge should have given more weight to these admissions.

Speaking outside court Cormac Walsh, who waived his right to anonymity, said he was ‘delighted’ with the Court of Appeal’s decision to reject Byrne’s appeal.

He said three judge panel, consisting of Mr Justice Ryan, Ms Justice Mary Irvine and Mr Justice Michael Peart were ‘very fair’ and their judgment was ‘correct’.

Mr Walsh said ‘it’s over now’.

The appeal had been due to go ahead last Tuesday but was adjourned until Friday after Cormac Walsh addressed the court indicating that there could be a perception that a conflict of interest arose with one of the sitting judges, Justice Garret Sheehan.

He said Byrne had been represented in court by Sheehan & Partners Solicitors, a firm which was set up by Garret Sheehan.

Justice Sheehan agreed to recuse himself and an alternative judge was appointed to hear the case on Friday.

On Friday Ann Rowland BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions informed the court that when Byrne was being sentenced in April, Byrne’s previous conviction in 1971 was referred to by Judge O’Shea as ‘indecent assault against a male’ whereas the actual conviction was for ‘gross indecency against a male’.

Mr.

Justice Ryan said that this offence could simply have been homosexual activity with a male which was illegal at the time.

March 2014 ‘I’ve been to court 17 times and my abuser still hasn’t been jailed’ A MAN abused as a child made an emotional courtroom outburst this week after a hearing to sentence the paedophile who assaulted him was once again adjourned.

Courageous Cormac Walsh has appeared in court SEVENTEEN times since his case involving Michael Byrne began in May 2011.

“I just couldn’t take any more,” Walsh said, after pensioner Byrne again managed to avoid a sentence due to an adjournment this week.

“I was told to sit down, but the stress is just too much.

All these people came here today for this case [Mr Walsh’s wife, sister, and two children] and yet again it’s adjourned.

He’s getting free legal aid, so he doesn’t care,” Cormac said.

The dad of two was first abused when he was eight years old while on a camping trip with Byrne, a retired teacher and choirmaster, who was once part of Fr Michael Cleary’s All Priests band.

Byrne (76), from Templerainey, Arklow, Co.

Wicklow, pleaded guilty and was convicted in September 2013 of abusing Cormac Walsh, but his sentencing hearing was adjourned until this week.

However, the Wicklow Circuit Court heard that the pensioner was seeking to have it put back again due to a medical condition with his wife.

At this point, Walsh, who is now a qualified accountant, jumped to his feet in court and refused to sit down, demanding: “What about my medical condition?” “I’ve had numerous medical appointments in St John of Gods as a result of what Michael Byrne did to me, but I’ve showed up on every court date and wouldn’t expect the court to adjourn anything over my own health, let alone my wife’s,” Cormac also informed the court he would not be available in July – the date the paedophile wanted to set for the hearing, and the new hearing has now been set for April The child molester’s first conviction for gross indecency dates back to 1971.

Yet he worked as a secondary school teacher in Dublin and Wicklow and a career guidance teacher in a Wicklow VEC for 17 years, giving him unfettered access to children.

He was also heavily involved in choirs, gave piano lessons to children and even managed to foster vulnerable kids.

He currently lives beside a boys’ school in Arklow and local residents have said he is notorious for dropping into local shops when he knows the children are on their break.

Five other men also made complaints about him to the Gardai about the abuse they suffered as children Initially, Byrne tried to frustrate Cormac’s case, but he changed his not guilty plea to guilty at the eleventh hour after Walsh made a secret recording of Byrne owning up to everything.

Byrne, who was a leading member of the Arklow Music Festival, the Avoca Singers and the Male Voice choir and a founding member of the Arklow Silver Band, has continued to offer music lessons and a career guidance consultancy to children.

The brazen pervert even set up a counselling service for victims of sex abuse.

December 2013 ‘Children welcome’ at paedo’s apartment A PAEDOPHILE awaiting sentence for sick sex crimes is trying to rent out a room in his home – advertising it as being “suitable for children” on TripAdvisor.

Michael Byrne (76), from Templerainey, Arklow, Co.

Wicklow pleaded guilty at Bray Circuit Court earlier this year to indecent assault, four decades after he was first convicted.

He was put on the sex offenders register and is due to be sentenced next March.

Now the pervert pensioner is using what could be his last months of freedom to capitalise on the rental market.

“The one-bedroom (double bed) apartment is recently renovated and is attached to our home,” Byrne’s ad boasts.

And he even claims the property is suitable for children.

Byrne, who toured with Fr Michael Cleary’s All Priests group, worked as a secondary school teacher in boys’ schools in Dublin and Wicklow and had unfettered access to children.

He was convicted of gross indecency in 1971, but managed to foster vulnerable kids, including a Romanian amputee in the 1990s.

He worked as a French teacher and career guidance counsellor, giving him access to children over the course of his lifetime.

Byrne was a leading member of the Arklow Music Festival, the Avoca Singers and the Male Voice choir and was a founding member of the Arklow Silver Band.

He often offered kids music lessons.

He was attached to the VEC in Wicklow town for 17 years as a career guidance counsellor, and continued even after his dodgy past was discovered.

Several VEC students made complaints that he assaulted them in his office on separate occasions and he was finally forced to retire.

Brazen Byrne even set up a sick counselling service for victims of sex abuse.

It was while delivering a Victim Impact Statement on behalf of a sex abuser that his own past was rumbled by eagle-eyed detective garda Jim McCawl.

Michael Byrne’s house Byrne tried to maintain the incident was a once-off: “I have spent my life since that time doing everything I can to make up for the once-off incident.

There was nothing before or since,” he said.

Victim Cormac Walsh waived his anonymity earlier this year so as to name and shame the pervert who groomed him from the age of eight while on a camping trip.

“Predators of sexual violence thrive on secrecy, it is for this reason that I have chosen to disclose my identity in this case,” he said.

“The only reason I took this case was to make him publicly accountable for his actions.” In Bray Circuit Court this week his sentencing hearing was again adjourned, this time until March.

The room Byrne wants to rent has gone up on the travel website TripAdvisor with glowing reviews.

“Maureen and Michael, the owners, are kind and friendly,” one says.

Another states the apartment is “run by a lovely retired couple”.

Michael Byrne had “nothing to say” when we called to his home beside St Joseph’s Church and the local national school in Arklow earlier this year.He only pleaded guilty to abusing Cormac Walsh after the victim challenged him and secretly recorded Byrne admitting everything.

He has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting Walsh on a date unknown in Clifden in 1975, and at Templerainey between April 1 and June 30 1976, and again in Templerainey between January 1 and March 31, 1977 and at the Band Hall in South Green, Arklow between January 1 1976 and March 4 1978.

The case has come up in court 16 times between 2011 and 2013 since Cormac Walsh first made a statement to gardai in 2009 “It’s an extremely difficult time,” the victim said.

“It just goes on and on.” October 2013 Confessions of a paedophile A COURAGEOUS child sex abuse victim confronted and secretly videotaped the confession of a singing and dancing paedophile who ruined his life.

The taped admissions resulted in the conviction in Bray Circuit Court this week of Michael Byrne from Templerainey, Arklow, Co.

Wicklow, who toured with Fr Michael Cleary’s All Priests group.

Now brave Arklow-based accountant, Cormac Walsh is waiving his right to anonymity to expose the true evil of the pervert who ruined his childhood.

Byrne (76), was a prolific paedophile, who worked as a secondary school teacher in boys’ schools in Dublin and Wicklow, and even managed to foster vulnerable kids.

The pensioner pleaded guilty and was finally put on the sex offenders register after more than 40 years abusing kids.

But the sicko, who tried to protest his innocence, only got his comeuppance after Cormac made a secret recording of him owning up to everything he’d done.

On the tape, grovelling Byrne confesses to everything and even apologises, despite lying through his teeth in court.

His innocent plea had forced Walsh into court on 15 occasions in connection with the case between 2011 and 2013, until the secret tape forced Byrne to admit his guilt.

He pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting Walsh on a date unknown in Clifden in 1975, and at Templerainey between April 1st and June 30, 1976, and again in Templerainey between January 1 and March 31, 1977 and at the Band Hall in South Green, Arklow between January 1, 1976 and March 4, 1978.

Cormac Walsh made the decision to break his silence to stop Byrne’s continued access to children and Judge Gerard Griffin lifted reporting restrictions.

“It has taken an awful long time to get to this day,” said the dad of two, who was first abused when he was eight years old.

“It would have made our lives a lot easier if he had admitted his guilt when my complaint was first made to the guards in 2009.

Predators of sexual violence thrive on secrecy and it is for this reason that I have chosen to disclose my identity in this case.” At his home beside St Joseph’s Church and the local national school of the same name, sicko Byrne – who trained as a priest – was unrepentant.

“I have nothing to say to you,” he stated, refusing also to offer any message of remorse to Cormac or any other victim.

As a musician, French teacher, cleric, and career guidance counsellor Michael Byrne has had unfettered access to innocent children over the course of his lifetime.

The child molester, who is due to be sentenced in December, was convicted of gross indecency dating back to 1971.

Yet incredibly he managed to work in well-known boys’ secondary schools in south Dublin and Wicklow, and spent 17 years in the Abbey Community College (VEC) in Wicklow.

The brazen pervert even set up a counselling service for victims of sex abuse at one point, to sate his own sick fantasies.

It was while delivering a Victim Impact Statement on behalf of an abused child buggered by a 61-year-old farmer, that he was rumbled by accomplished Arklow Detective Garda Jim McCawl.

McCawl, who has since retired, sensationally exposed Byrne’s criminal conviction in court in 2001 – reminding him of his own gross indecency conviction while he was delivering the statement.

Incredibly, Byrne was employed as a career guidance teacher by Wicklow VEC even after it became aware in 1995 of his criminal conviction.

As previously revealed by the Sunday World, the board chose not to advise parents of Byrne’s history after taking “legal advice.” He also even managed to adopt a young male Romanian amputee for a summer in the 1990s.

Several VEC students have made complaints that he assaulted them in his office on separate occasions and he was finally forced to retire.

Judge Griffin remanded Byrne on continuing bail until December 10 and directed the preparation of a victim impact statement.