Why not? The tort of assault is completed once one is put in
reasonable fear of unlawful physical harm, even if no such harm
results. Do you say that in your example relief should be denied
because the child only realizes the danger they were in after the
event? Presumably, if they themselves realize that all these supposed
acts of kindness have an evil intent at some point and that they are
in danger of physical harm, they would recover on authedox principles
of the law of assault (subject perhaps to arguments about the
immediacy of likely harm)?

What reasons of policy or justice can you identify to refuse relief in
a case such as you describe, assuming the evidence that grooming was
with evil intent is present?

On 7/10/15, Andrew Tettenborn <a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk> wrote:
> This programme of abuse was sustained and partly physical. Question: if
> the grooming is done with evil intent but is ultimately unsuccessful
> because the child's parents smell a rat and stop it, should there be
> liability for breach of trust alone? I doubt it, even if the child later
> finds out and feels aggrieved.
>
> Andrew
>
> On 10/07/15 12:14, Hedley, Steve wrote:
>>
>> /Walsh v. Byrne /[2015] IEHC 414 (21 May 2015) involved sexual abuse
>> of the plaintiff by the defendant over a 5-year period (plaintiff then
>> aged between 11 and 16), involving 'serious breach of trust by the
>> defendant, for whom the plaintiff had great respect and relied on for
>> advice and guidance'.
>>
>> Per White J:
>>
>> "22. In this case, the mental trauma suffered by the plaintiff, is not
>> just confined to the acts of assault and battery, but arises also as a
>> result of the consequences of the breach of trust of the defendant who
>> had played such an important role in the plaintiff's life. The court's
>> objective consideration of the purpose of the defendant's kindness,
>> concern and considerable investment of time, to the period when the
>> abuse stopped was for the insidious purpose of satisfying his own
>> sexual desire. For those reasons, it is appropriate to extend the law
>> of tort, to cover what is now a well recognised and established
>> pattern of wrongdoing, where a child is befriended, where trust is
>> established and where that friendship and trust is used to perpetrate
>> sexual abuse.
>>
>> "23. The court would define this as a combination of behaviour by
>> which a child is befriended, to gain his or her confidence and trust
>> and which includes a process by which a person prepares a child,
>> significant adults and the environment for the abuse.
>>
>> "24. The behaviour can involve many acts of individual kindness, but
>> with the aim of gaining access to the child and maintaining the
>> child's compliance with the abuse and secrecy to avoid disclosure."
>>
>> The opinion is here
>> <http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/09859e7a3f34669680256ef3004a27de/e93169111d94fa5480257e7d0054fd22?OpenDocument>.
>>
>>
>>
>> */Steve Hedley/*
>>
>> /School of Law/
>>
>> /University College Cork/
>>
>> /9thlevel.ie <http://9thlevel.ie/>/
>>
>> /private-law-theory.org <http://private-law-theory.org/>/
>>
>
> --
>
>
> *Andrew Tettenborn*
> /Professor of Commercial Law, Swansea University/
>
> Institute for International Shipping and Trade Law
> School of Law, University of Swansea
> Richard Price Building
> Singleton Park
> SWANSEA SA2 8PP
> Phone 01792-602724 / (int) +44-1792-602724
> Cellphone 07472-708527 / (int) +44-7472-708527
> Fax 01792-295855 / (int) +44-1792-295855
>
>
>
> *Andrew Tettenborn*
> /Athro yn y Gyfraith Fasnachol, Prifysgol Abertawe/
>
> Sefydliad y Gyfraith Llongau a Masnach Ryngwladol
> Ysgol y Gyfraith, Prifysgol Abertawe
> Adeilad Richard Price
> Parc Singleton
> ABERTAWE SA2 8PP
> Ffôn 01792-602724 / (rhyngwladol) +44-1792-602724
> Ffôn symudol 07472-708527 / (rhyngwladol) +44-7472-708527
> Ffacs 01792-295855 / (rhyngwladol) +44-1792-295855
>
>
>
> *Lawyer (n):*One versed in circumvention of the law (Ambrose Bierce)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ***
>
>
>