Chalkie White, an Irish national champion swimmer has said that he "wouldn't waste" anytime hating George Gibney, following the disgraced ex swimming coach's conviction for sexually abusing four young girls during the 1970s and 1980s.
George Gibney, aged 77, was convicted of sexually abusing these girls, as well as attempted rape at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
He was originally charged on 79 counts of various sexual offences against children, but pleaded guilty to five of them before the trial. He pleaded not guilty to 73 counts of indecent assault and one count of rape against a young girl in that same time period.
He was found guilty on 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape, while the jury were instructed to return not guilty verdicts on 33 counts relating to two complainants.
Mr Justice P O'Higgins remanded Mr Gibney in custody, and he will face sentencing on July 29.
Chalkie White who was one of the first to speak out about this abuse he suffered at the hands of Gibney, told the Irish Independent's Indo Daily podcast, that he had "mixed emotions" following the verdict in court.
“There’s a certain amount of relief that it’s come to this, but then it took an awful lot to get here, and an awful lot of people were impacted,” he told the podcast. “And in a way, it’s kind of a sad day, but in being sad, there’s a certain amount of not necessarily satisfaction, but a bit of relief that we got to here, and it’s at a stage now where people will actually say they believe us".
When asked if he had been following the trial over the last few weeks, Mr White said that “that guy has never been out of my head since I was 10 years old”.
He continued: “I didn’t really have much hope in anything happening. Over the years so many people have been involved – politicians, all the different radio, TV stations – following him around the world".
“We always felt that he’d be looking over his shoulder and just hoping that he’d be running from place to place", he added. “Eventually, we hoped that he would only end up in Dublin and then in jail, but honestly never really thought that it would actually happen".
“When he got extradited was the first time where we actually really felt, ‘Oh my God, something will really happen this time round".
Overall, Mr Gibney was charged with 27 child sex offences. But he never stood trial for these offences after getting a court order to stop any prosecution due to the time which had elapsed.
Given this, Mr White said that he was worried if the right verdict would be reached this time around.
“All our problems, up until now, people didn’t actually believe us,” he said. “And then when I listened to how they were actually treated in court, I really felt sad that that had happened to them, that I’d been part of bringing that upon them because I brought it up in the first place".
“I didn’t realise, I did it for myself, I didn’t realise how much of an impact it was going to have on other people. So many people were involved just to get it to point where it’s in court, and then you still hear people being accused of lying".
“That was really hard and really difficult, and it was a really sad situation".
Elsewhere on the Indo Daily podcast, Chalkie White praised Mark Horgan on the BBC and Second Captains podcast, Where Is George Gibney?, which he said was "so critical".
“We just weren’t being listened to. Suddenly, the podcast came out, and to those girls that came forward as a result of it I say ‘thank you’, because those girls actually saved all of us,” he said. “We were just left with that man wrecking our heads for the rest of our lives with no satisfaction at all".
“We owe everything to those girls who were brave enough to come forward from that podcast, and I really, really appreciate and thank them, and I’m sorry that they had to go through what they went through over the last couple of weeks in court".
“But, I really appreciate it because in the end, there is an outcome, and that’s really, really important. That man has been stopped".
Chalkie White was then asked if he has any regrets over not getting his day in court, to which he insisted “that’s not what’s important”.
“What’s important now is that the basis is there for believing me and everybody else who came forward, right?".
“But will I be upset at not getting it? No, not really, you know".
On whether or not he hate Gibney, Mr White said: “To be honest with you, I would not even waste my hate on that man.
“That man has impacted me and others for many, many years and has a huge impact. I couldn’t even hate the person because I don’t have that much consideration for him.
“I am trying to move on, but the fact that he’ll rot in jail is satisfaction".
