Former Irish swimming coach George Gibney faces 79 sexual abuse charges
The Olympic team coach was arrested by US Marshalls in Florida on Tuesday afternoon on foot of an extradition request by gardaí. He is accused of 78 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.
Gibney coached the four alleged victims in the 1970s and 1980s, when they were between the ages of eight and 15, according to the complaint lodged with the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Orlando).
Next week, the former coach, who is in his 70s, is due before a Florida court where he will accede or contest his extradition. The court filings say the four women made complaints to gardaí between 2020 and 2022.
The complaints came after the BBC podcast Where is George Gibney? re-examined the story of the Olympic coach charged with child sexual abuse but never stood trial. In 1993, the former coach at the Trojan swimming club in Dublin faced 27 charges of indecency against young swimmers.
However, the prosecution was successfully halted. His lawyers argued there was a delay in the offences coming out and a lack of precision defining the specific alleged incidents.
This legal challenge ended up in the Supreme Court which ruled in his favour. The charges that Gibney is now facing are in relation to different instances of alleged abuse than the charges in 1993.
The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
Following the case over 30 years ago, the former swimming coach fled Ireland and spent some time in Scotland before moving to the US, where he has been living since. An investigation was then reopened by gardaí following the 2020 BBC podcast documentary and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions three years later.
Last year, the DPP decided he should face charges in connection with allegedly abusing children that were in his care when he was a swimming coach. Gardaí then secured an extradition warrant in the High Court and it's understood they have been working with US authorities for the last six months.
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