Teens remanded for sex assault sentences

Two teenagers involved in the sexual assault of two boys, aged seven and eight, have been remanded on bail for sentence on November 7 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Jeffrey Connor (aged 17), of Quarry Road, and Patrick Dunne (aged 17), of Jarlath Road, both Cabra, admitted varying degrees of involvement in the assault on the victims on May 31, 2002.

Connor pleaded guilty to assault on one boy and Dunne to indecent assault on the second boy which involved forcing the younger boy to masturbate him. The attack took place inside an abandoned van parked at a north Dublin location.

A third teenager involved in the same attack was convicted of sexual assault by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last November following a one-week trial. Judge Michael White sentenced the 15-year-old to two years detention at Trinity House.

Garda Fergal O’Toole told Ms Karen O’Connor BL, prosecuting, that the attack on the younger boys, now both 14 years of age, came to light when the mother of one of the victims noticed her son behaving unusually and found out about the assault from him.

Subsequent interviews with Connor and Dunne revealed they had gone to the abandoned van with the two victims and two other teenagers who were also involved in the assault.

The court heard that while Dunne had got one of the boys to masturbate him, Connor’s role had been more that of a bully. He was carrying a wheel-jack and threatened the two young boys with it, forcing them to comply with instructions to perform sexual acts on the older boys.

Mr Gerard Charleton BL (with Mr Conor Devally SC), for Connor, told Judge Desmond Hogan that his client had pleaded guilty to assault at the first available opportunity.

The original indictment against him had contained a charge of false imprisonment as well as 12 charges of sexual assault. When those charges were later dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions, he pleaded to assault, thus preventing the two young boys from having to give evidence at a trial.

Mr Charleton said the trauma of having to give evidence at a court trial would have been extremely traumatic for the boys as indicated by a letter written to the court by one of the boys prior to the trial against the co-accused who was tried last November.

Mr Charleton said Connor had been only 14 years of age at the time and had since "moved on, learned from his experiences, and now understands fully the consequences of his actions".

Mr Padraig Dwyer BL, for Dunne, said his client too had been 14 years of age at the time of the offences, and had pleaded guilty when the case was first mentioned in court on January 22, 2004.

Dunne had sought counselling since and had co-operated fully with the gardaí as soon as the incident came to light. He was due to start a new job soon and was attempting to move his life in a better direction.

Both counsel offered apologies to the victims on behalf of their clients.

Judge Hogan noted that while one of the defendants had played the role of the bully, the other had been the beneficiary of the bullying. He remarked on the age of the victims and also noted the young age of defendants themselves at the time they perpetrated the offences.

He said he needed the benefit of an updated report from the Probation and Welfare Services before he made a judgement. "I am not giving any indication whatsoever yet as to how I am going to finalise the matter," he said.