GEORGE GIBNEY JAILED OVER INDECENT ASSAULTS ON FOUR GIRLS

George Gibney, a former Irish Olympic swimming coach, has been sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison, with the final 14 months suspended. The sentence was handed down at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday by Judge Michael O'Higgins. Gibney was found guilty of indecently assaulting four girls and of the attempted rape of one of them in a changing room when she was 12. He had earlier pleaded guilty to five charges of indecently assaulting a girl in Ireland in 1976. He denied dozens of further charges of indecently assaulting girls aged between eight and 15 at various locations between 1974 and 1981.

Earlier this year, a jury returned guilty verdicts on 40 charges relating to incidents dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Gibney, who had lived in the United States for years, was arrested in Florida last year under an Irish extradition warrant. One of the victims, Orla Poole, waived her anonymity to speak to reporters following the sentencing. She said grooming, manipulation and deception are hallmarks of a paedophile, and are especially hard to identify in competitive sporting coach-athlete relationships. Poole said she had spent decades in silence because of what she described as his "perverted behaviours," and thanked lawyers, Gardaí and victims' organisations for their support.

Poole said survivors in Ireland would now be "heard and believed," adding that practices of "sweeping things under the rug" and "turning a blind eye" belonged in the past. She urged other survivors to come forward "when you are ready" and to "reclaim your agency." The court heard that some of the offending involved forced oral sex and digital penetration. Poole said young, vulnerable athletes are often dependent on coaches "to show the way and do the right thing," and that she had once doubted she would be believed. She said that is "no longer the case in Ireland," pointing to organisations now available to support those who come forward.