Teenager given one year sentence after having sex with ex-girlfriend, 14

A 19-year-old who had sex with his 14-year-old former girlfriend has been given a one year suspended sentence and placed on the sex offenders register.

The now 21-year-old foreign national pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of sex with a child under the age of 15-years-old on dates between January and May 2011.

The injured party and accused had met on the internet through friends and chatted online and via Skype before meeting up and beginning a relationship.

The court heard that the young girl had said she agreed to have sex and that both parties knew each other’s ages and regularly visited each other’s family homes.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring noted there was no evidence of coercion, predatory behaviour or deception. She said it was an inappropriate relationship from the start which became unlawful and the fact that the girl said she wanted to have sex did not make it lawful.

She said the accused was five years older than the girl who was vulnerable due to her age and he had abused that vulnerability. She noted he was a young adult trying to navigate his way in a foreign jurisdiction and much of the time had been without adult support.

Judge Ring noted the law requiring the accused to be added to the sex offenders register did not discriminate between predatory paedophiles, violent or multiple sexual offenders and the accused in this case.

She imposed concurrent sentences totalling one year which she suspended in full. He had earlier been added to the sex offenders register.

Judge Ring said the victim impact report outlined that the young girl had been clearly upset by the matter and there had been changes in her life. She noted there was no evidence of coercion but the girl now expresses a fear of contact with the accused.

She said this was part of a genuine trauma to the girl which would not have occurred if the accused had not engaged in this offending.