A former sports coach has been remanded on bail after he pleaded guilty today to indecently assaulting ten teenage boys in Waterford in the 1980s.
65 year old accountant Bill Kenneally of Laragh, Summerville Avenue, Waterford, pleaded guilty to ten sample counts of indecent assault at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court today.
Five of the charges relate to indecent assaults committed by Kenneally at his home.
The prosecution says the abuse happened between October 1984 and December 1987.
Prosecution counsel, Noel Whelan SC told Judge Eugene O’Kelly that Kenneally’s guilty pleas to all ten sample charges were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
No details of the indecent assaults was given but Mr Whelan said that the full facts relating to over 65 charges would be given at sentencing which he expected would take two days to hear.
Mr Whelan said that Kenneally is currently on bail on the charges and gardai had no objection to him being remanded on continuing bail for sentencing at the next criminal sessions in February 2016.
Defence counsel, Elaine Morgan SC had earlier informed the court that the penalty for indecent assault had varied according to the gender of the victim and had changed over time.
The most recent ruling from the superior courts in the case of the DPP vs James Maher had fixed the penalty for indecent assault at two years and it was on that basis the case was proceeding, she said
Judge O’Kelly directed the submission of victim impact statements from each of the ten complainants and he directed they be furnished to Kenneally’s legal team in advance of sentencing.
Mr Whelan said that following consultations, February 17th and 18th next would be suitable to both sides and he suggested those dates could be confirmed at the start of the next criminal sessions.
Judge O’Kelly agreed and he remanded Kenneally on bail to appear again to the start of the next sessions at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court on January 12th to confirm the target dates in February.
Judge O’Kelly also ordered that no details would be published that would identify any of the ten complainants in the case against Kenneally who comes from a prominent business family in the city.
