Foster parent abused young boys

O'Mairthini will be sentenced next month

A former foster carer who was extradited to Scotland after fleeing to Ireland has admitted abusing four boys.

Paulnacha O'Mairthini, 42, from County Louth, sexually abused the boys at his home in Allison Crescent in Perth while he worked as a carer from 1993 to 1999.

He was due to go on trial in April this year but went on the run to Ireland after being granted bail.

O'Mairthini will be sentenced next month for the abuse and for failing to attend court.

Jennifer Bain, prosecuting, said he had been a foster carer with Perth and Kinross Council and also helped out with voluntary groups.

He befriended his first victim in the early 1990s, when the boy was 11 years old, after meeting at an activity course in Dunkeld, Perthshire.

The abuse began when the youngster was 14 and went on until he was 18.

Final victim

During this time, O'Mairthini also abused the boy's younger brother, who had been having difficulties at school.

In September 1995, O'Mairthini then began abusing a 15-year-old boy who had been put in his full-time care.

The court heard that youngster stayed with O'Mairthini for only a few months before going to a children's home but was later returned.

O'Mairthini attacked his final victim after meeting him at a wedding reception on a day between December 1998 and November 1999.

The boy, aged 17, had gone back to O'Mairthini's home and stayed overnight after feeling unwell.

After going on the run in April, a Europe-wide warrant was issued for O'Mairthini's arrest and he was eventually caught and handed over to Tayside Police in July.

Tim Niven-Smith, defending, said his client accepted that jail was "inevitable" for the offences.

The advocate added that O'Mairthini, who has since married, was a different man now to the one who carried out the abuse.