25-year-old jailed after sex with girl, 13

A man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on a social network site, after he claimed to be 19, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail.

Graham Doyle, aged 25, befriended the teenager through Bebo and had sex with her a number of times at his family home.

He later admitted to gardaí that he knew the girl’s age but claimed she had consented.

The victim told gardaí, when she arrived at her local station in a distressed state in the company of her mother, that she was panicked at the time and did not know what to do.

Doyle, of Ronan’s Way, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of defilement of a child at his home on Apr 29, 2011.

Doyle brought the girl up to his bedroom and kissed her. He had oral sex with her after convincing her if she did so there would be no further sexual contact.

He then had sex and anal sex with her before going into the bathroom.

The victim took that opportunity to get dressed and Doyle came back into the room and apologised to her and they listened to music together. He repeated his apology before he got a condom and had sex with the girl again.

Doyle stopped when he noticed the teenager was uncomfortable and offered her vodka, which she refused. He then brought her downstairs.

While there, Doyle’s father walked in. He told his father he was giving the teenager guitar lessons.

He later brought the victim back to their original meeting place, a supermarket, bought her six bottles of alcopops, and left her there to be picked up by her mother.

The details of the case were heard last October when Judge Mary Ellen Ring adjourned sentencing to determine what kind of treatment would be available for Doyle on his release from prison. It was later adjourned again.

Judge Ring yesterday noted a probation report had concluded that Doyle was at low risk of reoffending, showed he had insight into his crime, and was willing to engage with any recommended treatment.

The judge backdated the sentence to the date of Doyle’s plea in Jul 2012 and suspended the final 18 months.

She said Doyle’s use of social networking sites to groom his victim and build her trust meant she “trustingly went to his home”.

Judge Ring said the fact Doyle had also exchanged text messages, with a sexual content, with the victim meant he found it very easy to do what he did.

She accepted a report from a clinical psychologist which found that Doyle had low self-esteem and was emotionally immature for his age.

However, she said Doyle was “conscious of his own wrongdoing”, evident in the way he “convincingly” lied when he and the teen met his father in Doyle’s house.

Judge Ring said it was “a nasty offence”, deliberate and well thought through.

She said Doyle had taken “full advantage” of the girl and the gift of vodka to her “smacked of a pay off”.