No jail for attempted rape of boy aged six

A Limerick man who repeatedly sexually abused a child 21 years ago has avoided a prison sentence.

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a three-year suspended sentence at the Central Criminal Court.

Counsel for the accused, who was 16 at the time of the abuse, said he is now married and living in the US and that any conviction could prevent him from returning. She had asked the court last week to consider applying the Probation Act.

Applying the Probation Act means no conviction is recorded against an accused, allowing them to retain a clean criminal record.

Mr Justice Paul Carney yesterday said that although the defence counsel had made a very forceful plea on the man’s behalf, he refused to “massage” the sentence in such as way as to deceive the US authorities.

He ordered the man, now aged 37, to enter a bond of €1,000 and keep away from the victim forever. He also declared him a registered sex offender.

The man pleaded guilty to attempted rape on the basis of full details of the offence being heard by the court.

The abuse occurred in the summer of 1993 in a wooded area near the man’s home. His victim was aged between six and seven at the time.

Prosecuting counsel Maurice Coffey read from the complainant’s victim impact statement who wrote that he still suffers night terrors as a result of the abuse.

“He has caused an irreparable amount of damage to my life,” the victim wrote. He called his abuser “aggressive, manipulating, dominating, and, most of all, a predator.”

Defence counsel Isobel Kennedy said that after the victim went to gardaí in 2012, the accused voluntarily came back to Ireland to be interviewed. She said he made full admissions, was deeply remorseful, and later wrote a letter of apology to his victim. Ms Kennedy said he pleaded guilty on the earliest possible date.

After the hearing last week, the judge said the normal practice would be to remand the man in custody pending sentence.

However, he said he was remanding him on continuing bail because putting him in custody might “pre-empt his position vis à vis the US”.

Yesterday, the judge said the mitigating factors included that the offences were of very great antiquity.

He said the accused was 16 at the time and had been experiencing considerable bullying. The judge also said the accused was not likely to reoffend. “However, the gravity of this offence must not be lost sight of in any way,” he said.