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In The News

Derry O’Rourke: Ireland’s most convicted child sex abuser

Aug 1, 2024
24:37

Content warning: This episode contains details of child sexual abuse and may cause some listeners distress.


"They called him God, and the room where he molested them the ‘chamber of horrors,’" says journalist Justine McCarthy, who has followed the trials of Derry O'Rourke since the 1990s. The former Irish international swimming coach preyed upon young girls he trained, and was only jailed for the first time in 1998. Ultimately he served just nine years for offences that spanned decades. But yesterday he was sentenced to another ten for the rape of a teenage girl 35 years ago. McCarthy recounts his crimes, their impact and the heroic efforts of his victims to ensure the modern-day Swim Ireland is a safe haven for today's swimming champions.


Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.


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