Report by Andrew Carey
A REGISTERED sex offender has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two young Limerick girls as they made their way to a Rihanna concert at the O2 in Dublin two years ago.
At Dublin Circuit Court last week, 53-year-old John Daly from Cabra Park, Phibsboro, who was convicted of molesting children in the 1980s and of the aggravated sexual assault of a pensioner in the 1990s, admitted that he got on the Luas with the sole intention of touching young girls.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring remanded him in custody by revoking his bail after Daly entered a guilty plea to the charges that dated back to October 2011.
The girls made a statement to gardaí in Limerick after returning from the concert and Daly was arrested three months later as he was about to board the train at the O2 following the One Direction concert.
The two teenagers, aged 13 and 16 at the time, described how Daly molested one of them and inappropriately touched the other after she bumped off him on the Luas. One girl said she felt trapped and didn’t know what to do.
Gardai reviewed the CCTV footage from the Luas carriages.
Daly, who will be sentenced next January, admitted deliberately getting on the train for the sole purpose of touching young girls.
The court heard that Daly said he had it “in his head to do it” and had been doing it “for his own satisfaction”.
In 2000, Daly was jailed by the Central Criminal Court after pleading guilty to attempted rape and indecent assault on two young girls in the 1980s. He also pleaded guilty to the aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault of a 62-year-old woman in the 1990s.
While on remand, Daly is to engage with the probation services to determine what treatment he can be given.
