86-Year-Old Pedophile Who Raped Two Children Escapes Jail For Being 'Too Old'

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An 86-year-old pedophile, who raped two children when they were four and ten, has escaped jail after the judge decided he was "too old" to serve a prison sentence.

John Joe Kierman, from County Cavan in Ireland, raped the two children 60 years ago and pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2018. 

The boy and his sister are now in their sixties.

Detective Sergeant Sharon Walsh described to the court that in the late 1950s, Kiernan would target the children in neighboring were he worked as a laborer.

He would regularly rape the children, The Anglo-Celt reported.

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According to ntd.tv: Kiernan admitted he had raped the girl in her childhood bedroom.

The female victim said he gave her something like whiskey and then raped her as she lay still, feeling as though she was in a trance.

He later threatened to “bury her” after another attack, according to The Journal.

Former farm laborer John Joe Kiernan (86) has received a suspended sentence for rape and the sexual abuse of two children, aged between 4 and 10, over 60 years ago.

For the male victim, Walsh told the court that he was orally raped by Kiernan on fishing trips.

The victim told police: “I never remember being afraid. This was just normal life for me,” Metro UK reported.

The siblings came forward to police in Ireland in 2017 and Kiernan was subsequently arrested.

Michael White said in his ruling that it was not appropriate to jail Kiernan because of his age and poor health.

Kiernan is currently housebound with diabetes and heart disease.

White said that if Kiernan were younger, he would have received a serious custodial sentence.

Kiernan pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently assaulting the boy between 1958 and 1963, and five counts of indecently assaulting the girl between 1959 and 1963.

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

White suspended all the sentences under the condition that Kiernan “keeps the peace,” according to reports.

White noted that Kiernan had previously served time in prison for indecently assaulting another three boys and one girl, according to The Anglo-Celt.

Those assaults occurred sometime between 1963 and 1973.

White also said he accepted that Kiernan was remorseful. Kiernan’s counsel said he had not committed any other offenses since marrying his wife in 1974.

When Kiernan was first approached by police about the allegations, Kiernan initially admitted to touching the children but denied assaulting and raping them.

He later said that he “wasn’t right in the head then,” and that “I was sex crazed, I didn’t know how to stop,” according to The Anglo-Celt.

The sister said that what Kiernan did to her had shattered her childhood innocence, and made her feel unsafe in her own home.

However, she also said she had had “outstanding support” since coming forward.

Her brother said he felt shocked and horror when he found out that his sister had also been abused by Kiernan.

White acknowledged the “unbelievable courage” of the victims for coming forward to police.

He said that the offenses were committed “at a time in Ireland when nobody talked about these things.”