The High Court has awarded a woman, who was abused as a child by her former neighbour, €350,000 compensation for sexual assault.
Noelle Doyle was just seven years of age when her former neighbour – Sean Connolly of Kilkea in County Kildare – first used the pretext of repairing her bicycle in his garden shed to sexually assault the young girl.
The sexual abuse continued for a period of five years in the late 1970s and early 1980s until Noelle confided in her friends, who told Noelle to tell her parents. Noelle´s parents believed their daughter, but it was not until 2009 that Noelle felt able to report the offence to the gardaí.
The gardaí investigated Noelle´s claims and a prosecution was brought against Connolly in 2011. Connolly pleaded guilty to six sample charges of sexual assault at Naas Circuit Court and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Following Connolly´s conviction, Noelle made a claim for compensation for her sexual assault injuries – claiming that she had suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder, and had turned to alcohol when she was younger because of the abuse.
Noelle´s allegations were not disputed, and her claim for sexual assault compensation went to the High Court for an assessment of damages. The case was heard by Mr Justice Kevin Cross who described Noelle as an “admirable person of courage who has done society a great service by bringing this disgraceful matter to the attention of her parents, the gardaí and the courts”.
Judge Cross awarded Noelle €350,000 compensation for her sexual assault; after which Noelle admitted that it had been a “hard, long struggle” to come to terms with the abuse she had experienced, and to go through criminal and civil proceedings.
Noelle urged other victims of sexual abuse – both male and female – to come forward, and she hoped that her settlement of compensation for sexual assault would encourage them to “stand up for the little children that we once were”.