Ex-Olympic Coach George Gibney, Convicted of 39 Counts of Indecent Assault and One of Attempted Rape, to Be Sentenced in Dublin Monday

George Gibney is due to be sentenced Monday, Oct. 12, at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. He is 77. In July he was convicted of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

The victims were four young female athletes. The offences took place in the 1970s and 1980s.

From respected coach to fugitive

Ireland had little international success in swimming in the 1980s. Gibney became a high-profile figure anyway. He founded the Trojan club in south Dublin and coached emerging swimmers at pools around the city.

He was Ireland's Olympic swimming coach at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Games in Seoul. He told his swimmers to "never give up" and to "hang in there."

Allegations that he preyed on children at pools, in his car and in other locations led to 27 charges of indecency and carnal knowledge. He never stood trial on them.

The 1993 ruling

In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Gibney could not be tried because of the time that had passed since the alleged offences. The decision stunned his victims.

He moved to Scotland, then to the United States. There he obtained a visa and lived in Colorado, California and Florida, mostly working low-level clerical jobs.

A man charged with dozens of counts of child sex offences spent decades living quietly in three American states. Nothing in the legal system moved him in the meantime.

The long effort to find him

Private citizens and journalists kept the case alive. Justine McCarthy of the Irish Times wrote a 2009 book on the case, Deep Deception.

Evin Daly, a child welfare advocate who helped track Gibney in Florida, was then the chief executive of the child protection advocacy group One Child International. He helped media locate and monitor Gibney. "We provided data and resources," Daly said. He said Gibney once moved because neighbours in his apartment complex learned he was an accused sex offender "and they turned on him."

In 2020, the BBC-commissioned, 10-part podcast Where is George Gibney?, presented by Mark Horgan, drew new attention to the case.

Between 2020 and 2022, four people who were minors when they were abused gave statements to Irish police. Those statements led to fresh charges and an extradition warrant. Gibney was arrested and returned to Ireland last year.

The trial and the victims

The trial was closely watched and detailed harrowing abuse. After the July conviction, all four victims told the court what the abuse had done to them.

One said she had carried "intensely personal and traumatic memories" for more than half a century, along with shame, pain and confusion. Another, who was nine years old when she was assaulted, said Gibney abused a position of trust and destroyed the life of a child who had previously been happy and healthy.

Daly called the conviction "vindication for those children." He added: "The abuse shaped some of their lives. The guy had no conscience, in my opinion."

What happens Monday

The sentence will be handed down at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday, Oct. 12.

The four women who came forward between 2020 and 2022 waited decades for a trial after the 1993 ruling closed the earlier case. Monday's hearing will show what sentence a Dublin court puts on the 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape against a man who is now 77.