Man who had been accused of underage sex withdraws guilty plea

A Romanian man who admitted having sex with a 14-year-old Irish girl has been allowed withdraw his guilty plea at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as a result of this week’s Supreme Court judgement.

Valintan Stan (aged 26) of St Theresa’s Garden, Rialto, Dublin, had been due for sentence for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl aged under 15 years in a flat in north Dublin on April 17, 2003.

Ms Karen O’Connor BL, prosecuting, told Judge Frank O’Donnell that the Director of Public Prosecutions was not proceeding with its unlawful carnal knowledge case as a result of the Supreme Court judgement on the unconstitutionality of these charges.

Detective Sergeant Denis Smith earlier said Stan admitted he had sex with a 14-year-old girl while drinking alcohol in a friend’s flat with three girls and two other men.

Det. Sgt Smith agreed with Mr Niall Durnin SC, defending, that the girl told Stan she was 18 years old and that the other girls in the apartment had claimed to be 15 and 17.

However, Stan was jailed today for four years by Judge O’Donnell for a separate crime in which he kidnapped a man to rob him.

He admitted falsely imprisoning Mr Iosif Chelaru at Clontarf Road on June 27, 2003, and robbery of €600 cash, bank cards and a phone from him at Sutton Cross, and also to stealing €260 cash from Mr Chelaru at AIB, Artane, on June 28, 2003.

Judge O’Donnell said his victim, a fellow Romanian national, had suffered considerably as a result of the robbery and he added that a letter of regret from Stan, presented to the court, had little value as he had initially denied any wrongdoing and accused his victim of lying.

Detective Garda Grainne McDonnell said Mr Chelaru was a chef and met Stan in Clontarf in order to buy knives from him for work. He got into Stan’s car where a second man was in the passenger seat.

Stan drove to a bridge where another man got into the car and stuck Mr Chelaru across the face. Mr Chelaru was searched and beaten for 10 minutes and threatened he would be killed if he did not give his attackers the PIN number for his ATM card.

Det. Gda McDonnell said that after money had been taken from Mr Chelaru’s account, he was driven to Sutton Dinghy Club, taken from the car and chased to the water’s edge. His attackers tried to push him into the water but he escaped and flagged down a taxi.

Det. Gda McDonnell said that while Stan did not physically assault the victim he was "director of operations on the night".

Stan came to Ireland six years ago, has residency here and has fathered two children to an Irish woman. He had eight previous convictions in this country for road traffic and theft offences.

Det. Gda McDonnell said Stan failed to appear in court in relation to these offences and fled to England where he was arrested. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for him and he was extradited to Ireland.