May 2001 Sentences for child sex abuse increased The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday increased some sentences imposed on a former church sacristan who engaged in what was described as 25 years of serial sex abuse of young children in the north Wexford area. A FORMER church sacristan was sentenced to a total of 29 years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing four young boys. Thomas Byrne, 57, from the Garden City, Gorey, Co Wexford is also a former youth club leader and caretaker of the old people’s centre in Gorey. He pleaded guilty to three sample counts of buggery, three of indecent assault and four sexual assault charges against four boys from 1971 to 1998. An earlier court heard he was long considered a “pillar of society”. He was initially charged with 30 offences but 11 sample charges were brought before Wexford Circuit Court. In each of the buggery charges Judge Olive Buttimer imposed a five-year prison term and for the remaining seven assault charges she handed down sentences of two years on each. She ordered the terms should run concurrently and allowed for an early review date in 2002.  The court heard that one of Byrne’s victims had suffered devastating effects as a 14-year-old. The victim, who cannot be named, had attempted suicide, the court was told.  In a previous hearing it was disclosed that Byrne had sexually assaulted some of his victims in the Old Folks Clubhouse, Gorey, where he worked as a caretaker.  Passing sentence, Judge Buttimer said that while she accepted his guilty plea she could not ignore the pain that Byrne had inflicted.