Psychotherapist’s evidence key to conviction of Cork man for sexual assault of six boys 

Woman was in fast-food restaurant when she observed accused with the boys, rubbing them on the head and taking them to the toilet

Fri, 06 Mar, 2026 – 17:07

A psychotherapist visiting Cork for a weekend happened to observe the activities of a 45-year-old West Cork man with several young boys in a fast-food restaurant in the city, and what he was doing made her feel sick.

That key evidence from a sex assault trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court related to a Saturday afternoon in September 2023. 

And on Friday, Daniel Connolly, of Ardnathrush, Glengarriff, Co Cork, was found guilty by a unanimous verdict of seven men and five women of the jury on seven counts of sexual assault in respect of six boys. 

On an eight count, they reached a majority 10-2 guilty verdict.

Judge Helen Boyle remanded Daniel Connolly in custody for sentencing on June 26 and acceded to applications by barrister Caroline O’Connell to direct a psychologist’s report and a prison governor’s report.

Karen Martin, a psychotherapist from Galway, was in a fast-food outlet in the Cork area with nieces and nephews on Saturday September 23, 2023, at about 6pm.

“My attention was brought to a man over to my left with five boys around him. I was at a table close to that man. We were there for 45 minutes to an hour. He was middle-aged, average size and height and he did not stand out in any way. He had a Cork accent, or to the south.

“My attention kept being pulled over to that table. I am a mother and I was struck by the five boys — they were really quiet. He kept continuously rubbing the head of one of the boys. It was unnatural. I felt sick looking at him. The boys were seven/eight-ish to 11/12.

“He was constantly rubbing him [his head]. I have a boy myself — there is no way a boy would let you rub him for that period of time. It did not look right… 

“One of the boys came over and slapped his leg and said: ‘I don’t like you, I don’t like you.’ And I found that strange. I was really struck by how meek, quiet and passive he [the boy] was.

“I did not like looking at the man rubbing him. It looked all wrong.” 

Paula McCarthy, prosecution barrister, said: “You saw him take the boys to the toilet and stay five or 10 minutes.” 

Ms Martin replied: “What I was struck by, was he told the boys to go to the toilet. That did not seem normal — they [boys generally] will go when they want to go to the toilet, they don’t need to be herded in.” 

The following day, after returning to Galway, Ms Martin reported what she had seen to gardaí. Detective Garda Paul Cogan of the Garda Protective Services Unit later charged Daniel Connolly with sexually assaulting six boys. The offences related to four Saturday afternoons at the same fast-food outlet.

Unusually, the evidence in the trial was based almost entirely on CCTV from the premises. There were no statements of complaint. And the children did not give evidence. 

Det Garda Cogan said when gardaí began to investigate, several members visited the homes of the families of the children. The parents became concerned they might be in trouble themselves and did not give consent for their children to be interviewed by specialist interviewers.

When interviewed, the accused man said as well as bringing the boys to the fast-food premises, he brought them to a swimming pool and to Fitzgerald’s Park.

He denied being a paedophile. He said he hugged the boys because they hugged him and had no bad intentions with these children and no desire to sexually exploit them.

Accused denied being a paedophile

Ms McCarthy said in her closing speech to the jury that when one mother asked him about taking the boys out for fast-food and buying them footballs, he told her, he loved children, and he did not have children of his own, and that he considered the boys to be his friends and he loved them. He used to contact them on Snapchat.

Ms McCarthy said: “He tells you these children are his friends — he is a man in his 40s. They are 10. He never goes into the family homes. I say it amounted to sexual assault. It is prolonged and overly tactile, with children he had only met.

She referred to video evidence of him kissing one boy on the head and in two cases, patting a boy on the bum. She said for indecency, there does not have to be a touching of private parts.

“A man in his 40s travelling up from West Cork, he does not know the families, it is a stretch to say they are his friends. They are 10. One is seven. He says he loves them.” 

Ray Boland, defence senior counsel, said in his closing speech: “The prosecution are saying this is creepy, this is weird, there is a bit of a bang off it. Maybe it is the behaviour of a lonely person. He could be very important to these kids. They were dying to go out with him.” 

He said maybe the witness, who works with the Rape Crisis Centre, might have been hyper-vigilant but he said nobody else noticed anything wrong. He said if someone was going to sexually assault children, it would be extraordinary to do it in a very busy public place where there was CCTV.

Mr Boland referred to a line in Ms Martin’s statement to gardaí that what she witnessed could be innocent, but it could be more sinister. 

Mr Boland said the gardaí had brought nothing new to the case and that it was built on suspicion and prudery, and the defendant could not be convicted of sexual abuse of children without hearing from the children and without the defence being able to cross-examine them.