Former Irish Olympic swimming coach Derry O’Rourke will be sentenced tomorrow for raping a teenage girl over 35 years ago. 

The 78-year-old man, of Virgina Road, Co Cavan, already served nine years in prison for sexually abusing young girls from 1976 to 1992.

The woman in this case, now in her 40s, later told Gardaí O’Rourke assaulted her between October 1989 and June 1990. 

She said it happened in the swimming pool’s boiler room. 

O’Rourke denied the allegations, claiming he never knew her, and denying that she was ever involved in his swim team. 

He continued to deny the allegations at trial but was convicted of one count of rape and 11 charges of sexual assault earlier this month. 

At his sentence hearing today, the woman told O'Rourke how much he’d taken from her, and how the lengthy investigation and subsequent trial added to her trauma. 

In her victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing today, she said retelling her trauma “continues to be incredibly painful”. 

"I can remember your name and you couldn’t afford me the same dignity," she said.

"For you to violate and abuse a child’s trust, and their body too… that is unacceptable.

She said O'Rourke used her for his "own personal gratification".

"Your warped, deliberate manipulation of a vulnerable child is abhorrent.

"You will never realise the shame you made me feel, the continued apprehension, the uncertainty, the inadequacies."

She said O'Rourke made her "create a mask" to "keep silent".

"By doing what you did, you left me little room to breathe, let alone to speak," she said.

"That is a massive burden for me to carry.

"I want to hand that burden back to you, as it is all your fault.

"You took so much that wasn’t yours to take and nothing will ever give it back."