Northern Ireland

Alleged IRA man (45) convicted of raping teenage boys at 'safe house' in Co Louth

The 45-year-old had pleaded not guilty at Dublin's Central Criminal Court to charges of rape and sexual assault on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001. Image from RTE
The 45-year-old had pleaded not guilty at Dublin's Central Criminal Court to charges of rape and sexual assault on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001. Image from RTE The 45-year-old had pleaded not guilty at Dublin's Central Criminal Court to charges of rape and sexual assault on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001. Image from RTE

AN alleged IRA man has been found guilty in a court in Dublin of raping two teenage boys at a republican "safe house" in Co Louth.

The 45-year-old had pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001.

However, a jury at the Central Criminal Court returned a unanimous guilty verdict on eight of the 10 charges he faced.

The man, who cannot be named until a judge lifts his anonymity, was remanded in custody pending sentencing.

The court heard the first complainant say that he lived in a large house owned by a "dedicated republican" in the 1980s and 1990s and that IRA members would be brought there to stay for a few days or weeks at a time.

He said he looked up to the defendant as a "big brother figure" after he first came to stay in 1991 or 1992 but he began to sexually abuse him when he was 13 or 14 years old.

He rejected defence claims that he had engaged in consensual sexual activity on the night he alleges he was raped in 2001, when he was in his 20s.

The second complainant testified that the house he lived in as a teenager was used to house people as they travelled to "missions" across the border, RTÉ reported.

He accused the man of sexually abusing him during a camping trip when he was 17 and again at the house, claiming the defendant told that if he told anyone he would be "found on a border road".

The accused said he stayed at the house about "half a dozen" times in the early 1990s while working a casual job and denied sexually abusing the two boys.

The court heard that gardaí had no indication he was involved in any paramilitary organisation until the complainants came forward with their allegations.