A jury has found an alleged IRA member guilty of raping two teenage boys at a “republican safe house” two decades ago.
The 45-year-old man had denied a series of sex attacks on the pair in Co Louth on dates in the early 1990s and in 2001.
On the sixth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on six charges of sexual assault and two counts of rape. They found the defendant not guilty on two other charges.
The trial had heard the two victims lived in a large home owned by a “dedicated republican” which was used as a “safe house”.
The first complainant testified he lived in the house in the 1980s and 1990s where IRA volunteers would be brought during the night and stay for a few days or weeks.
He said the accused first came to stay in the house around 1991 or 1992. He became part of the family and the complainant said he looked up to him as a “big brother figure”. He told the court the abuse began when he was 13 or 14.
The second complainant said the house he lived in as a teenager was used for people to stay in on their way to “missions” across the border.
He added that on one occasion the accused told him if he informed anyone of what happened he would be “found on a border road”.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott remanded the accused in custody and adjourned sentencing until April 29.
