A former teacher and Marist brother from Claremorris received a 12-month sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this week for 35 charges of sexual abuse against four young boys at a Sligo school — however the 66-year-old man walked free from court.
Christopher Cosgrove, Cloughreevagh, Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, had pleaded not guilty to 55 charges of indecent assault at the primary school on dates between July 1968 and June 1977. He had denied 14 charges in relation to the first two complainants, nine charges in relation to a third, 17 charges in relation to a fourth complainant, and one charge in relation to another boy. Some 200 people had been interviewed in relation to the case.
Twenty charges were withdrawn and in February the jury of seven men and five women took seven and half hours to return unanimous verdicts on the remaining 35 charges on day six of the trial.
This is the fourth time that Cosgrove has been before court on abuse charges. Previously he was convicted in Sligo Circuit Criminal Court of the sexual assault of the boys, but that conviction was later overturned in the Court of Criminal Appeal after Cosgrove had been in jail for close to a year.
Judge Patrick McCartan said that because the offences occurred over 40 years ago, the law provided for a maximum sentence of two years in the case of sexual assault. The judge imposed a 12-month sentence. He said the court must also have regard to Cosgrove’s age and his current medical difficulties.
As the defendant had already served a year in prison for the offences, Cosgrove walked free from court. Judge McCartan directed that Cosgrove be registered as a sex offender.
