Ballina man guilty of horrific child sex abuse

Five brave women have revealed the sickening childhood abuse they suffered at the hands of a Ballina man.

David Langdon, aged 61, of St Patrick’s Estate, Ballina, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to seven counts of sexual assault, dating back to the 1990s and 2000s. His victims wanted their assailant named while preserving their own anonymity.

The court heard the offending spanned a 13-year period between 1996 and 2009. The crimes were committed against the five female victims at locations in Ballina. Langdon was known to the victims who were aged between five and 12 when the offending occurred.

Detective Garda Aidan Brennan told the court that the matter was first reported by one of the victims in 2019 when she was still a teenager. The other women then came forward.

When one of the victims was seven-years old she was at a sleepover at Langdon’s home with his daughter. She recalled going to sleep and waking up with the defendant trying to put his penis into her mouth. She cried and Langdon's daughter woke up. 

The defendant told the girl she could not stay anymore because “she was lying”. She was 11-years-old when a second incident occurred. She was playing in Langdon’s home when he offered her an ice lolly. He then reached down her top and began rubbing and massaging her breasts. She fled the house.

Another victim described being in Langdon’s home and playing with his granddaughter. She was upstairs when he touched her on her private parts over her clothes. This happened on a second occasion. The girl believes she was five or six years old when she was assaulted.

A third victim told Gardaí she was between eight and 11-years-old when she was abused. She was on a sleepover when Langdon pushed up her top and she felt his mouth on her nipples. She could feel his beard on her skin and knew it was him from his heavy breathing.

She was also assaulted in her home when Langdon was there to watch a football match. The girl was in bed and woke up to him touching her breasts.

A fourth victim recalled that the abuse began before her First Holy Communion and ended before her Confirmation. She was aged between eight and 12.

She was at St Patrick's Church in Ballina with Langdon and his son when renovations were going on. They found a safe and the defendant told his son to go and find something to open it. While alone with the girl he grabbed her from behind and began feeling her vagina through her clothes.

Later that same night, the girl was on a sleepover in Langdon’s house when she woke up to find him rubbing her vagina through her clothes again.

On another occasion, she was in Langdon’s kitchen when he took his erect penis out. He gripped her by the hips and rubbed his penis against her vagina though her clothes. She thought the ordeal lasted 10 minutes.

The same victim was in Langdon’s sitting room and when his wife left the room he got down on his knees and began touching her through her clothes.

On a separate occasion, again in Langdon's home, he took down her tracksuit bottoms and underwear and sexually assaulted her.

A further assault occurred in Langdon’s car when he pulled down the girl’s trousers and touched her vagina. He also forced her to masturbate him.

When she tried to pull her hand away, Langdon told her, “Hurry on, the longer you be, the longer it will take.” 

A fifth victim said she was aged between seven and 12 when she was assaulted. She was seven and in Langdon’s home when he picked her up and put her on his knees and began bouncing her up and down. While doing this he put his hand in her underwear and his fingers inside her vagina.

The girl described frequent abuse to Gardaí. She said that during nine out of 10 sleepovers at his home, Langdon put his fingers inside her vagina.

She also recalled Langdon bringing her into his bedroom. He pulled down his tracksuit bottoms revealing his erect penis. Langdon told the girl, who was wearing her school uniform, to lay down on the bed and remove her underwear. He then sexually assaulted her.

He also assaulted the girl in an isolated field, grabbing her from behind before putting his fingers inside her vagina. She asked him to stop, and he told her to be quiet.

When interviewed by Gardaí, Langdon denied the allegations.

Five victim impact statements were read out in court in which the women described how Langdon destroyed their childhoods and robbed them of their innocence.

“My childhood got taken away from me too early in life,” said one victim.

They detailed difficulties sleeping, being alone, and trust issues following the abuse they endured at Langdon’s hands.

One victim said she questioned if it was her fault and described Langdon’s shameless ‘cover act’.

“You tore my life apart,” said another woman.

Another victim said she would punch the walls in her room to deal with the rage and shame she felt.

A number of the victims said their parents were left “heartbroken” by Langdon’s crimes and his abuse of trust.

The women said reporting the assaults and speaking out in court had finally given them a voice which had been silenced for so long by their abuser.

“I believe that our futures can be bright now because justice has been done,” said one of the victims.

Langdon has six previous convictions. The court heard he attempted suicide and his marriage has broken down.

Barrister Diarmuid Connolly said his client is a “pariah” in the community and is ashamed of what he has done.

Judge Sinead McMullan adjourned sentencing and remanded Langdon in custody until February 9, 2026.

• Published as part of the Courts Reporting Scheme.