A man who raped a 13-year-old girl while on bail for the defilement of another teenager has been jailed for seven years.
The man (22) admitted raping the 13-year-old girl and falsely imprisoning her 16-year-old friend after he drove the teenage girls to buy weed in Co Tipperary on June 22nd last year. He drove them to a dark and secluded area and raped the younger girl while the other girl was locked in his car.
The Central Criminal Court heard that he was aged 21 and on bail for charges of defilement at the time he carried out the rape and false imprisonment.
In a victim impact statement read out to the court during an earlier hearing, the younger girl described the offence as the worst thing she had ever gone through and her “worst nightmare”.
“It was the worst thing I could have ever been through...It all has affected my mental health…I lost a lot of friends as a result of this incident. I don’t understand why,” she said. “I just wish it would all go away,” she added.
The court heard the man has been in custody since his arrest and had no recorded convictions at the time of this offending. However, he was on bail for the defilement of a child under 15 only nine days prior and has now been sentenced in relation to that matter.
Passing sentence, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor said it was of massive concern to the court that he had pleaded guilty to defilement charges just days before committing these offences.
Detective Garda James Kingston told the court a brief outline had been given to Gardai by the complainants in July last year.
The two girls were looking for a lift, and the man said he would take them “to collect weed”.
He took them to a carpark to pick up the cannabis, and on their return, he pulled the 13-year-old girl out of the car by force, pinching the older girl who was trying to help her friend remain in the car.
He then locked the older girl in the car and walked away with the younger girl, and forced his penis into her mouth.
He returned to the car some 15 minutes later and drove the girls to where they were staying.
The court heard the man knew her age as he was friends with her cousin. Justice O’Connor said the “huge age disparity” between he and the 13-year-old was an aggravating factor in the offence, along with the fact that he had driven the girls to obtain drugs.
The court also heard he sent the younger victim a photo of himself on Snapchat prior to the offence and asked her to send back a photo of herself, which the judge said suggested “an element of grooming”.
Gardaí obtained Snapchat data and were able to piece together times and routes travelled as well as CCTV from the carpark he drove them to. The man was arrested for the rape and false imprisonment of the girls on July 25th, 2023, and was detained and interviewed.
The court heard the defendant made an early plea towards the end of the second Garda interview and made full and frank admissions, in which he said he apologised to the girls.
He apologised to both girls and told gardaí, “I deserve this, and I accept my punishment,” the court heard.
The court heard he made admissions and told Gardai he had a “psychological issue that needs to be addressed.”
“I deserve to be severely punished,” he added.
Justice O’Connor said these offences represent both “a repetition and an escalation” of his previous sexual offending but accepted that he has shown “some level of remorse”.
The court heard that his previous sentence of five years with two suspended has now been activated and must be served prior to this sentence taking effect.
This means that he must serve approximately two years in prison before beginning his seven-year jail term.
Justice O’Connor further ordered he remain abstinent from alcohol and illicit drugs, attend mental health services and engage with all treatment programmes and offence-focused work as directed by probation services, Túsla and An Garda Síochána.
She directed he undergo supervision by probation services for three years on his release and go on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
By Niamh O’Donoghue and Jessica Magee
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