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Thursday, February 04, 2010
Shamed coach begins sentence
AS HE begins his six-and-a-half-year jail term this week there is little doubt that ex-national swimming coach Ger Doyle will be lamenting the time he was lauded as one of Ireland’s greatest sporting coaches.
Rarely in recent times has someone fallen from grace with such a resolute bang.
In 2004, Doyle was awarded a New Ross Standard People of the Year award yet within six years he would be sent to jail for arguably the most despicable and heinous crime of them all – indecent assault against children.
At one time Doyle (48) was the toast of New Ross.
Within the world of swimming he had the respect of his peers and work colleagues and was held in very high regard as a coach from the top drawer.
Sadly, beneath the veneer of success lurked the mind of a man who preyed on underage children as he not just abused them physically but also abused his position as someone they should have been able to trust.
In the wake of him being sentenced one of Doyle’s victims spoke publicly about his ordeal.
While remaining anonymous the victim spoke of it being normal practice, as members of New Ross Swimming Club, for children to be measured during Doyle’s tenure as boss.
The victim said it went from being asked to go into his office to accompanying him into the toilet.
“There were no doors or windows in there,” he said.
“When you were being measured it was done while you had your swimming trunks on but then he asked me to take them off,” he added.
He went on to comment on how Doyle tried to touch him and grope him but it got to the point where he [the victim] didn’t put up with it anymore.
The victim was around 12 or 13 years of age at the time.
“I knew it was inappropriate and I wasn’t comfortable with it,” he said.
“But this was a guy who had enormous amount of control over the people using the pool,” he added.
“It did take a couple of episodes before I had the courage to stand up to him.” The victim also revealed that the incident had a huge affect on him psychologically.
“You just put it to the back of your mind and you feel like you did something wrong and you didn’t want your friends to find out about it,” he said. “You feel like you’re the guilty party,” he added.
The reality of the situation, however, is far different and the real guilty party, Ger Doyle, was found guilty of the offences charged against him by a jury of seven men and five women.
The offences took place between 1981 and 1993 and only came to light in 2005 when the first allegations were brought to the attention of the Gardai.
This week Doyle is into his second week behind bars and as the victim pointed out last week justice has been served ‘to some extent’.
He also pointed out that if Doyle had apologised for his actions it would have ‘helped’ a bit.
As it was, Doyle proclaimed his innocence throughout the trial and showed no remorse, even when sentenced.
Throughout, he pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault and 34 charges of indecent assault.
He will now have sixandhalf years to think about what he did. The victims will live with it forever.
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