'After 30 years of sexual torment and emotional abuse at the hands of Roscommon farmer Thomas Collins, we can now begin the lengthy process of healing'

A farmer who was not charged for 26 years after he made “wholesale” admissions to gardaí to sexually abusing his young cousins has been jailed for 11 and a half years.

The sentencing of Thomas Collins (59) today (Tuesday, December 17) marked the end of decades of struggle for justice, his victims said.

Two of Collins' cousins were told to withdraw their statements against him by a serving garda in 1997 and when they again made formal complaints in 2002, the then DPP directed that he not be prosecuted, the Central Criminal Court heard.

Collins went on to sexually abuse another person decades later and is currently serving a nine-and-a -half year sentence for this.

Sentencing Collins for the abuse of his three cousins, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring said: “This is a case that should have been dealt with decades ago.”

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Collins, of The Fair Green, Frenchpark, Co Roscommon, pleaded guilty to 21 sample counts of the indecent assault, attempted rape and rape of his three young cousins, Gretta Conlon, Catherine Conlon and Gerard Conlon, in and around their two family homes on dates between 1978 and 1992.

In her victim impact statement, one of Collins' cousins described her absolute devastation at the “betrayal” by gardai, telling the court that a garda demanded she and her sister withdraw their statements against Collins.

This garda, who was named in court by Ms Justice Ring, had a personal connection to Collins, the court heard. His behaviour at the time “had all the hallmarks of misconduct in public office,” Ms Justice Ring said.

The court heard that Gretta Conlon and Catherine Conlon made statements to gardai in 1997 about the abuse they suffered on a regular basis at the hands of Collins from when they were aged three and six respectively. However, while they initially found the gardaí were helpful, they ultimately withdrew their complaints after a garda discouraged them from proceeding with the case.

Sergeant Laura Martin told James Dwyer SC, prosecuting, that this garda's wife worked with Collins' wife. The court heard family members also put pressure on the two women, although not Collins himself.

The court heard the two Conlon women again made a complaint to gardaí in 2002 but the DPP decided not to prosecute.

The court heard that in his interview with gardaí in 1997, Collins said he knew what he was doing was wrong and that his cousins were only young at the time. He said he was “experimenting” with them and that it went on for several years.

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In 2002, he made a statement making further admissions and saying he “didn't realise (he) was doing any harm at the time” and he was only young. These were “wholesale admissions”, Collins' barrister, Desmond Dockery SC told the court.

Ms Justice Ring asked if the DPP at the time saw these garda statements and was told they had. In sentencing, she noted the DPP made the decision not to proceed with the case “despite the admissions made by Thomas Collins”.

She praised the “stamina, determination and sense of right” that prevailed in Collins' cousins, who she noted had to wait until 2023 when he was charged and until this year when he entered guilty pleas.

“Twenty-seven years they have travelled to this day, which speaks to the strength these two women have, despite the incredible damage done to them by Thomas Collins,” Ms Justice Ring said. She said they were “true survivors” and she wished them well into the future.  

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The court heard Collins also later admitted to the indecent assault of Gerard Conlon, who disclosed the abuse in more recent years. The court heard Collins terrorised his young cousin when he was sent to help out on his farm in the late 1970s, tying him to an electric fence and holding him over a bridge as well as sexually abusing him on three occasions. 

The three complainants were in court for the sentence, along with their spouses. The court heard Collins is now estranged from his wife and adult children.

In her victim impact statement, Catherine Conlon said that after she and her sister Gretta realised they had both been abused by Collins, they went to gardaí to seek justice and to prevent him from abusing anyone else.

She said the first garda they spoke with was initially helpful, but when they returned on a later date, a different garda “demanded we withdraw our statements”, telling them it was a long time ago.

“This betrayal by An Garda Siochana left me completely devastated,” Catherine Conlon said in her statement, which was read out by counsel.

The court heard Collins indecently assaulted Catherine Conlon on a regular basis from when she was aged six to 12, before the abuse progressed to rape up until she was 18 years of age. Collins was aged between 13 and 26 at the time of the offending. He got married the following year at the age of 27.

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“Because of the depraved actions of Thomas Collins, who continuously sexually abused me, I did not get the chance to experience a regular childhood, to be a regular child,” Catherine Conlon said in her statement.

She outlined the “immense suffering” and emotional scars the abuse caused and said she often wondered if she might have had a different life “without his tormenting”. She said she struggled in school and that the effects of the abuse have been life-long.

“He never showed any remorse for his actions,” Catherine Conlon said. “He put me through immense and unspeakable suffering without care of my wellbeing...He treated me as if I was an object.”

In her victim impact statement, which was also read out by counsel, Gretta Conlon said she endured “unimaginable suffering” at the hands of Collins, and lived in fear of him. She said her childhood should have been carefree and innocent, but Collins robbed her of this.

“I was unable to escape the torment,” she said.

The court heard Collins abused Gretta Conlon from the age of just three years old, with the abuse starting with indecent assault and progressing to several attempted rapes from when she was aged between eight and 11. Collins was aged between 13 and 21 at the time of this offending.

The abuse occurred in both family homes as well as a turf shed, a cow shed and fields, the court heard. On one occasion, Collins' older brother witnessed an incident of abuse and told their mother. She hit Collins with a broom and told him not to do it again, the court heard. Collins abused Gretta Conlon one more time after this before it stopped.

In her victim impact statement, Gretta described how Collins slapped her face and pinned her against the wall when she threatened to tell on him. She described being terrified of him.

She described how he forced her to watch the movie Halloween, which she found terrifying, but could not look away from the television for fear of the punishment he would mete out. “The trauma inflicted on me during these formative years has left scars that may never fully heal,” she said.

“I ask for justice,” she said. “Not just for myself, but for my sister and brother who suffered in silence and to prevent others from experiencing the same pain and devastation.”

In his victim impact statement, which was read out by counsel, Gerard Conlon described how as an eight-year-old boy, he did not know what he had done to deserve the physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Collins.

He described being helpless and confused, unable to tell a soul what happened to him until he met his now wife. “I'm here today to get justice and get on with my life,” he said.

In his plea of mitigation, Mr Desmond said his client's father died suddenly from a heart attack when he was 12, just before his offending behaviour started. He noted that Collins was a child for much of the offending against his cousins, and would need to be treated by the court as such.

Collins was a “callow young man” with no sexual experience when the abuse occurred, the defence submitted.

Mr Dockery said Collins was extremely co-operative with the investigation and was frank to gardaí from as early as 1997 in relation to his abuse of Catherine and Gretta Conlon. When questioned by gardaí in recent years about the abuse of Gerard Conlon, he said he did not remember, but subsequently entered guilty pleas in relation to him.

He has two previous convictions for sexual misconduct.

Mr Dockery said Collins' guilty pleas spared the three complainants from “further re-traumatisation”. He said until his incarceration, Collins farmed rented land in Roscommon and  worked for Roscommon Mart. He is now a pariah in the community, the court heard.

Ms Justice Ring outlined how she was bound by certain elements of the law in sentencing Collins, including that he was a juvenile for some of his offending and that during certain time periods of the abuse, the maximum sentence for indecent assault was two years.

Taking all these factors into account, she handed down a sentence of 12 and a half years and suspended the final year on a number of conditions. She backdated the sentence to Collins' guilty pleas in October this year.

Speaking outside court, surrounded by her siblings and relatives, Gretta Conlon told reporters: “Today marks the culmination of decades of struggle, pain and resilience as justice has finally been served for my sister Catherine, my brother Gerry and myself.

“After 30 years of sexual torment and emotional abuse at the hands of Thomas Collins, we can now begin the lengthy process of healing.”