A RETIRED MEMBER of the Defence Forces was today jailed for sexually abusing and grooming two young girls in the 1980s.

Eddie Lillis was jailed for three and half years at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.

He had denied sexually abusing the two girls, who were aged between three and eight, when he groomed and abused them in the 1980s.

Judge Colin Daly lifted a court order restricting the media from identifying Lillis, (63), of Shannonvale, Old Cratloe Road, Limerick.

Shortly after Lillis sexually assaulted his first victim, Girl A, she told her mother what happened and gave a formal statement to gardaí.

However the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the time directed there was not enough evidence to prosecute Lillis.

Lillis went on to abuse Girl B, the court heard.

Four decades later in 2020, after Girl A made another complaint and gardaí received a separate complaint from Lillis’ second victim, Girl B, gardaí re-investigated the case and the DPP ordered Lillis to face trial.

Lillis pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Following his trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, he was convicted on four of the five charges, and the jury could not reach a decision on the fifth count.

In her victim impact statement which she read in court, Girl A stated: “If Eddie Lillis had been held accountable when I made my original complaint, (Girl B) may have avoided his depraved actions.

“My hope is that by making his crimes known to the public Eddie Lillis will never have the opportunity to harm another child.”

Both women said they came forward to gardaí to “protect other little girls” from Lillis, or indeed, any other “paedophile”.

They said they wanted to show “other victims of historic sexual abuse that it is never too late to pursue justice”.

Lillis, who was supported in court by some of his family, said through his barrister that despite him having contested the trial, he accepted the jury’s decision.

Girl A stated that the “heinous” sex acts carried out on her by Lillis changed her from being “a carefree, innocent six-year old little girl, to feeling confused and terrified”.

“The person who hurt me was someone who was supposed to protect and serve our community.

“Instead, he took advantage of my innocence and vulnerability.”

Girl A, who was sexually assaulted by Lillis a few days prior her First Holy Communion,  praised her parents “who instantly believed me and brought me to make a statement to gardaí”.

She said she continued to struggle afterwards with anxiety knowing “that there are many more Eddie Lillis’s out there”.

“He is now a convicted paedophile, I am relieved that my allegations were finally taken seriously by the DPP and that (the defendant) is being held to account,” Girl A concluded.

Girl B told the court that, Lillis’s sexual assaults on her had “warped” her childhood, and that “despite extensive and ongoing therapy, the psychological scars never go away.”

Girl B said the abuse made her fearful for her own daughter and “all little girls because of men like Edward Lillis”, and that her fear for other children convinced her “to come forward once and for all”.

“He (Lillis) maintained his innocence and put my family and I through the further trauma of a trial, he has never shown a midget of remorse.”

Neither victim wished to be identified but they said they supported the court lifting reporting restrictions on identifying Lillis.

Lillis’ barrister, senior counsel, Anthony Salmon, asked Judge Colin Daly to take into account Lillis’s “service to the State, and his previous good character until his convictions caught up with him”.

Jailing Lillis, Judge Daly said the married father of three, “took advantage” of his position of trust in the community “to abuse the two children”.