Men who had sex with 14-year-old boy remanded on bail

An actor and a ex-courier who had sex with a 14-year-old boy after they first met him through a gay website have been remanded on bail pending sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The 45-year-old man pleaded guilty two charges of engaging in a sexual act with the boy in January and February 2007, while the 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to engaging in a sexual act with him in January 2007. Neither man, who are both from Dublin, had previous convictions.

The boy had created a profile on www.gaydar.ie stating he was 19 years old but both men later acknowledged in Garda interview that the teenager admitted on meeting them that he was only 15 years old. Each accused agreed that they were aware that the age of consent was 17.

Garda Darra Hynes told prosecuting counsel Ms Anne Rowland BL, that the boy had arranged to meet up with both men after exchanging phone numbers through the website.

He also met up with two other men but the boy admitted that nothing happened with them because they had said on seeing him that it was obvious he was underage and one commented: "I don’t want to go to jail."

Judge Martin Nolan said that he needed time to consider the case and adjourned sentencing to next Friday.

Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, defending the younger man, told Judge Nolan that this was not a case in which the young boy had been groomed nor was "there a withdrawal of consent throughout the incidents".

He said his client, who had appeared in 'Fair City', television adverts and on stage, had shown great remorse for his actions.

He said the man admitted that he is interested in young men in their late teens and early 20s but said "there is no question that he has pedophiliac tendencies".

Gda Hynes said that the boy had sex with the 42-year-old in his bedroom when he was supposed to be at school and his mother was at work. The accused had brought lubricant and condoms with him.

The man later texted him wishing him good luck in his upcoming mock exams and again to ask how they had gone. He suggested that they meet again during the teenager’s mid-term break but this didn’t happen.

Gda Hynes said the 45-year-old man phoned the boy and engaged in phone sex with him before offering him anal sex and arranging to collect him. He knew that the teenager had just met with the other accused and he text him to ask what they had done with each other.

He picked up the boy from his local shopping centre before he brought him back to his own home where they had sex. He dropped the boy back and gave him some gay pornographic DVDs "as a gift".

He picked him up a second time where he brought him to nearby lake and they had oral sex before he again dropped him back at the shopping centre and gave him €10 to buy credit.

Gda Hynes told Ms Rowland that the teenager’s mother contacted gardaí after she found suggestive text messages from these men and nude photographs of her son on his phone.

Her partner text the 45-year-old man, having found the number on the boy’s phone, and arranged to meet him after purporting to be a young man. The man followed the accused after he text to say he would not make the appointment and later supplied his address and registration of his car to the gardaí.

Gda Hynes said that the boy "declined to make a victim impact statement" and accepted that he now seems to be doing well but added: "I am not an expert."

Gda Hynes agreed with Mr Le Vert that when the case first came to the public attention "there was speculation in the media that the boy had been a victim of a pedophile ring".