BRAVE VICTIMS | 

Retired teacher jailed for 40 months over sexual abuse of three schoolboys

80-year-old Patrick Sharkey is originally from Donegal but now has an address on Holmfield Road in Coventry

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A retired teacher who committed a “gross breach of trust” when he sexually abused three boys during extracurricular activities in the 1980s and 1990s was handed a 40-month sentence on Friday.

Judge Alistair Devlin paid tribute to the courage, bravery and persistence of the Patrick Sharkey’s three victims, one of whom personally attended Antrim Crown Court to see his abuser sentenced.

Two of the three had provided victim personal statements and reports that “did not make for easy or comfortable reading”, with the judge saying it was clear the now-adult men expressed feelings common with other sex abuse victims, such as “shame, confusion, guilty, fear at not being believed, mistrust and sense of loss”.

“However, what this court can most clearly and most unequivocally state is that the only person who should carry with them any guilt or shame is the defendant, who was their abuser,” declared the judge.

He said while the victims may feel that, through the sentencing process, the court’s attentions were focused mainly on Sharkey, “this court will do its very best to dispute that type of perception”, adding that he “wanted to pay tribute to the victims who are to be commended in their bravery in coming forward and persisting with the case”.

Earlier this year, the 80-year-old, originally from Donegal but now with an address on Holmfield Road in Coventry, entered guilty pleas to nine offences of indecent assault, committed against three male victims, on dates covering a time span between September 1, 1988, and December 31, 1998.

The court heard that, in essence, the offending against each of the three boys followed a fairly similar modus operandi in that each of them were involved in extracurricular activities at St Joseph’s College, through which Sharkey created his opportunities to abuse the boys when they were aged between 12 and 16 years old.

In agreed statement of facts, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher told the court how the offending first came to light in 2011 when one of the victims came forward but did not sign his statement at the time.

That same victim came forward again in March 2018, this time conducting an ‘achieving best evidence’ video interview with detectives in which he outlined how Sharkey would have given him sports massages, “from his ears to his toes”, during which his former teacher touched his private parts, sometimes through his boxer shorts and sometimes on bare skin.

Ms Gallagher outlined how a second victim came forward in December 2018. He also reported how Sharkey had performed sports massages on him, at Sharkey’s former home in the Mountsandel area of Coleraine, during which he was also touched inappropriately.

“At first, this would be over clothing, but eventually went to skin-to-skin contact. He explained that the massages were then done without him wearing his underwear,” said the lawyer, adding that Sharkey at times “would have made fun of” the victim’s penis.

At the time of their reports, Sharkey had retired to Linards in central France. However, he was arrested in June 2022 when he was visiting relatives in Coventry.

The previous March, a third victim had found the courage to come forward.

Ms Gallagher described how that victim told police he had been abused by Sharkey about ten times while in the showers at school, with Sharkey coming up behind him and giving him a bear hug, placing his hands on his ribs, saying: “Are you cold? I’ll get you warmed up.”

“Both the victim and the defendant were only wearing a towel around their bottom halves,” she told the court, adding that the then-teenage boy could feel Sharkey “pressing his penis into his buttocks area”.

Arrested and questioned by detectives, Sharkey denied doing anything wrong, a stance he maintained throughout the court process until he was re-arraigned in March.

While Ms Gallagher submitted there were multiple aggravating features to the case, including the fact that Sharkey had abused three boys over a nine-year period, subjecting them to abuse which continues to have detrimental consequences, and where there had been an “abuse of position of trust given the teacher/student relationship”, defence KC Eugene Grant highlighted that, as well as Sharkey having a clear record, there had been no offending in the intervening period since and Sharkey had entered guilty pleas, saving the victims from having to relive their ordeals in a trial.

Judge Devlin said, given the “gross breach of trust”, that there had been “some elements of grooming” and at least some level of premeditation or planning in the abuse, “these offences are of high culpability”, adding that, from what he had read in the reports, he assessed the level of harm as “moderate to high”.

In addition to the sentence, the judge ordered Sharkey to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

In sentencing Sharkey, Judge Devlin quoted an oft-repeated warning: “Those who commit sexual offences against young children will be met with condign punishment and any abuse of trust must be treated severely.”