Former Irish Swimming Coach Found Guilty of Raping A Teenage Girl Based On An Old Complaint

Derry O’Rourke, an ex-swimming coach found guilty of raping a teen girl more than three decades ago. The offence includes rape and sexual assault several times. The complaint was lodged 13 to 14 years ago.
Derry O’Rourke, who is currently 78 years old, had appealed at the Central Criminal Court. The court observed 15 counts of indecent assault by the same victim. The juvenile girl had accused him of several such incidents dated between October 1989 and June 1990.
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In total, there was one charge of rape and 15 for indecent assaults. During the proceedings of the trial, the trial judges requested the jury to acquit O’Rourke of four of the charges. It left the jury to ponder upon the rest of the 11 charges of indecent assault on the basis of an old complaint.
After four to five hours, the jury gave its verdict by the end of the fifth day at the trial. Justice Miss Melanie Greally gave O’Rourke into custody for remand in the light of 30’s July sentence.
A stroking proposition from the defending lawyer, Mr Michael Bowman, came when he heard that the sentencing had a delay. He mentioned to the court that his clients had bad health and required a hospital stay.
The complainant gave solid evidence, in relation to her old complaint, numerous unpleasant times in the presence of O’Rourke. She recalled that the ex-coach called it a “muscle check” when he used to call her in a separate room.
The plaintiff, young and naive at that age, was “thrilled that someone had noticed her”. At that time, she was 13 years old. She explained that her bra was not even 30AA, was very skinny herself and looked underdeveloped. She looked like a mere child.
She went on to cite that O’Rourke used to stand behind her and asked her to put her arms behind her arm. He started rubbing her breast with his hands from behind and the process continued for about five minutes.
She could not differentiate whether it was indecent as she considered it “legit” for muscle development. The coach persisted, “I needed to work harder”.
Adding on to the details, the complainant annotated to Miss Patricia McLaughlin, the prosecuting lawyer SC, that the swimming coach kept on repeating phrases like “good girl”, “we just need to get this done”, and “just be quiet” while he digitally penetrated her.
She was horrified and upset for days after what happened in that room. The trust was broken.
A revolting past of the ex-swimming coach found guilty
It is not only about the old complaint. O’Rourke has been in jail for 12 years starting from January 1998. He had appealed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his then 29 offences.
The offences enlist 29 felonies with 11 girls whom he took on dates between 1976 and 1992. He was again charged of sexual assault, indecent assault and defilement. O’Rouke was again punished with a sentence in August 2000 with another 19 charges from six girls. These sexual attacks transpired from July 1970 and December 1992. The dates were still unknown and not documented yet.
It is stomach-churning to know that the former swimming coach found guilty was even accused of oral sex with girls hardly ageing 10 and 19 years. All of these girls were coached by him.
Another victim charged him of rape and additional two counts of indecent assault between 1975 and 1978. He was jailed after the sentence in January 2005 following the decision of pleading guilty.
After the former swimming coach found guilty, he made absolutely no reaction to the 12 guilty verdicts.