Man gets 9 years for raping girl after party

A WICKLOW native who raped a 13-year-old girl at a First Communion celebration after plying her with alcohol has been jailed for nine years.

Noel Savage, aged 45, told gardaí on his arrest: “I thought she was 14 and I am not a paedophile, although I did have sexual urges towards her.”

Savage, originally from Bray but with address at Corrib Park, Newcastle in Galway, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court last July to one count of sexual assault on the girl at a house in Galway on May 16, 2010. He was found guilty of one count of rape and a further count of sexual assault on the same girl by a jury later that month.

He had pleaded not guilty to those charges.

During the trial the victim gave evidence via video-link that, prior to the assault, Savage had given her and her friends vodka and cola throughout the party.

Savage told gardaí that he went into a bedroom where the teenager was sleeping to say goodnight to her and that she thanked him for the day and hugged and kissed him. He claimed the victim took off her own pyjamas and initially maintained the girl fell off the bed and brushed her mouth off his penis.

He told gardaí they were both drunk and “she didn’t fight” him off her, but once he realised what he was doing he stopped.

In a letter of apology to the victim and her family, read out by Tim O’Leary SC, defending, Savage said he “sincerely apologises for his conduct; the hurt, pain and anxiety caused” and that he is glad the crime was reported.

“I pray that you and your family can move on with your lives and I was an adult that wronged an innocent child. I have put shame and embarrassment on my family and friends and I wish it never happened as I too have to live with this for the rest of my life.”

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said Savage had taken advantage of a vulnerable child who suffered flashbacks, depression and anxiety as a result of the assault. Other than the fact that Savage has no previous convictions “it is hard to find any mitigating factors”.

Mr Justice McCarthy sentenced Savage to nine years for rape; seven and five years for the other two counts, all to run concurrently.