An 86-year-old man who raped two children more than 60 years ago has avoided jail because a judge said he is too old and ill.

John Joe Kiernan repeatedly raped the boy and girl, who are brother and sister, when they were between four and 10-years-old.

Kiernan was arrested after his victims, who are now in their 60s, came forward to police in Ireland last year.

John Joe Kiernan, 86, was spared jail because of ill-health and old age (Picture: Collins Courts)

John Joe Kiernan, 86, of Forthill, Arva, Co Cavan, admitted repeatedly raping the children (Picture: Collins Courts)

He would attack the children near or on farmland where he worked as a labourer in the late 1950s.


In one sickening attack, he raped the girl in her bedroom and threatened to ‘bury her’ afterwards, The Journal reports.



Detective Sergeant Sharon Walsh told the court that Kiernan would orally rape the boy on fishing trips.

The victim told police: ‘I never remember being afraid. This was just normal life for me.’

Kiernan, from Arva in County Cavan, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently assaulting the boy between 1958 and 1963, and five counts of indecently assaulting his younger sister between 1959 and 1963.

The 86-year-old child rapist was given suspended sentences at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin

(Picture: Google Maps)

Despite the shocking attacks, Justice Michael White said it was not appropriate to jail Kiernan given his age and bad health.

Kiernan is housebound with diabetes and heart disease.

He was sentenced to eight years for the rape and five years and two years for the indecent assaults.

The sentences were all suspended on the condition Kiernan keeps the peace.

The judge noted during the trial that Kiernan had previously been jailed in 2005 for indecent assaults on three boys and one girl between 1963 and 1973.

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