Gerard Quaile who became the first person to face trial in connection with the Fermanagh sexual abuse scandal has been found guilty of historic offences against a young girl.

The 58-year-old from Creamery Close, Florencecourt, stood trial on seven counts of indecent assault, six of which related to one child, with the remaining charge concerning a second. The offences took place between 1980 and 1985.

Quaile denied all charges, but after a week-long trial at Dungannon Crown Court, the jury delivered a majority verdict on Tuesday, convicting him on four counts while acquitting him of the other three.

In evidence, the victim, who first spoke out about her ordeal under an alias in The Impartial Reporter in 2019, said the abuse began when she was about 12-years-old and occurred on a regular basis.

She claimed Quaile would begin by carrying sex acts on himself then have her do this for him.

This progressed to him getting her to lie on top of him while naked.

Quaile warned her not to tell anyone about the abuse, convincing her she would get the blame.

Sometimes he would give her money afterwards and on other occasions cigarettes or alcohol.

She recalled during one instance she shouted out very loud “but no-one reacted” and continues to believe “someone must have heard.”

While the victim made a video-recorded interview in 2019, the court heard she previously made a statement to police in 2014 but a decision was taken not to proceed with any action against Quaile.

In the latter interview which led to the charges, the complainant accepted some parts of her 2014 statement were different which she said was due to embarrassment and she couldn’t bring herself to fully describe the extent of what occurred.

In cross-examination defence counsel reiterated Quaile denied all charges and enquired why there were some differences in the victim's 2014 statement and the recorded evidence from 2019; She explained when discussing the allegations with police in 2014 she did not disclose everything as it was a highly traumatic experience and, “I felt so dirty, so ashamed and so filthy that this had happened.”

She described her devastation on learning police were not prepared to investigate Qualie in 2014.

The victim set out how the trauma of the abuse never leaves and nobody can understand this unless they have been through it, adding life is destroyed.

She decided to go back to police in 2019 after reading an article in The Impartial Reporter about historic sexual abuse which was reported but got nowhere, which was part of a series of similar stories.

The victim accepted some of the dates were wrong but recalled she was in my secondary school uniform when the abuse started.

In regard to differences around the frequency of the alleged abuse, the victim accepted her 2014 statement said it was around twice a month, but later claimed it was more often.

This was because she couldn’t tell all in the first statement as it was the first time she had spoken about it and was utterly ashamed and disgusted with herself.

Defence counsel enquired why on deciding to speak out in 2019 she had chosen to go to a newspaper which was then followed up with police.

The victim repeated she had read of other similar instances and decided to tell her story, albeit under a false identity.

The defence put it to the victim that she “conspired” with the other complainant to bolster each other’s story and put forward a combined case against Quaile, by both going to the newspapers in 2019 and then both going to police.

This was rejected outright with the victim firmly stating, “I know my truth.”

Giving evidence on his own behalf Quaile repeatedly denied any abuse ever occurred and he could think of no reason why the victim would have created the claims against him.

However the jury did not accept this in terms of four counts, finding him guilty by majority verdict.

He was cleared on the remaining matters.

Adjourning for the preparation of pre-sentence reports Judge Richard Green addressed Quaile directly, stating, “You have been found guilty of repeated sexual offending of a victim over a number of years. There is an inevitable custodial outcome.”

Defence counsel requested Quaile be remanded on continuing bail ahead of sentencing, but Judge Greene refused and ordered him to be taken into custody.

Sentencing will take place on November 26.