A former Chairman, PRO and founding member of the Ennis based Banner GAA club who abused two young boys is due to be sentenced today.
69 year old James "Tony" Maher of Clonroad Beg, Ennis has admitted to 18 separate counts of indecently assaulting his young victims in the 1980’s.
Last November Ennis Circuit Court was told that the 69 year Ennis man embarked on a serious catalogue of crime when he began abusing his first young victim- a club hurler – when he was 12 years old.
The former Club Chairman befriended the boy’s family and was a regular visitor to the house while continually abusing him until March 1984- just months away from his 15th birthday.
Tony Maher’s met his second victim as was hitching a lift out of Ennis and subsequently began abusing him in 1983 when he was 11, with the incidents of indecent assault occurring in the 69 year old’s car, on the grounds of the Banner Gaa Club and in the toilets of Clare County Council’s offices.
The court heard both victims had attempted suicide in intervening years and had become addicted to alcohol.
Describing it as a difficult case Judge Carroll Moran said he would continue the matter very carefully and is due to hand down sentence in the matter today.
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