by Andrew Carey
andrew@limerickpost.ie
WHEN paedophile John (Jack) Dunne was jailed last year for abusing four young boys during the mid 60s, a further six victims emerged to make complaints against the 83-year-old former Garda.
But justice was denied to the six new complainants last week-end when Dunne, of Canon Breen Park, Thomondgate, died in a Limerick nursing home before the latest round of court cases could proceed.
A native of Limerick city, Dunne abused young boys while he was children’s liaison officer at Pearse Street Garda station in Dublin and also polio sufferers whom he targeted through his activities as leader of a scout troop for disabled children.
Last year he was jailed for six months by Judge Carroll Moran after pleading guilty to 14 separate counts of abuse against four boys.
One victim told the court he was abused 15 to 20 times. The offences, which dated back to the late 50s, 60s and 70s, included abuse where Dunne admitted kissing the boys on the lips, touching private parts and mutual masturbation.
The abuse first came to light following the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009 when one of Dunne’s victims contacted Gardaí.
After he was sentenced last year, six new victims came forward and a fresh investigation was launched.
This led to Dunne being charged with 36 new offences in relation to six different victims — all of whom said they were abused by Dunne in the 1960s and 1970s.
The cases had been for hearing later this year but will be struck out after the former Garda’s death last week-end.
The complainants are said to be “very disappointed about that”.
Described as one of the most “disgusting paedophiles in the history of the State, Gardaí believe that there could be dozens more victims as “he preyed on the most vulnerable in society”.
After he resigned from the Gardaí, Dunne joined the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in 1977 but he continued abusing children.
In 1986, he received the Probation Act for indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy and in 1992, he attended sex therapy at Trinity House in Chicago for four months before leaving the religious order in 1997.
He then moved to Thomondgate and was resident in a local nursing home before his death.
