Teen who had sex with 13-year-old girl 'thought she was her older sister'

A Kildare man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl believing her to be her 16-year-old sister has avoided a jail term at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The now 21-year-old, who himself had just turned 17 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to having sex with a child under the age of 17 years old at a house in a Kildare town on June 5, 2010.

He has no previous convictions and is now registered as a sex offender.

The court heard that the girl had a contraceptive bar in her arm at the time, a fact known to the accused and his friends. She had also just had sex with the man’s 15-year-old friend.

This boy was never prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions and was dealt with under the Juvenile Liaison Scheme.

Judge Martin Nolan said the facts of the case were graphic but he had to be fair to the man and take into account his age at the time, his plea of guilty, expression of remorse and the fact that a probation report put him at a low risk of re-offending.

“This conviction will blight him for some period,” the judge said before he added that it is “a punishment in itself” to have such an offence on your criminal record.

He said, having considered the probation report before the court, that it gave him “great hope” this this was a one-off event for the man.

“It is a tragic one for the victim but I believe it is one that he won’t forget in a hurry,” Judge Nolan said.

He imposed a one-year jail term which he suspended in full on condition that the man be of good behaviour and remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for a year.

Garda Eoin Dempsey agreed with Úna Ní Raifeartaigh SC, defending, that the girl had been engaging in sexual relations with other people at a local pitch earlier that night and had disappeared under the stands with one of the boys.

He confirmed that the 15-year-old boy she had sex with, minutes before her client, had never been prosecuted.

Gda Dempsey accepted that the man genuinely believed the girl was her older sister and confirmed that another witness had told gardaí that she had given a false name to other teenagers on the night.

Gda Dempsey told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting that the girl and her friends had been drinking with the man and his friends for a number of hours before they all went back to one of the boy’s homes.

The girl had been talking to a 15-year-old boy before she went upstairs with him.

She later told gardaí that this teenager left her in his mother’s bedroom, before the accused came into the room, locked the door behind him, got on top of her and had sex with her.

He then engaged in a sex act with her before having sex with her again. Afterwards she got up, got dressed and left the house. The gardaí were alerted after she confided in a friend who in turn told their parents.

The man was arrested the following November and made full admissions when interviewed by gardaí.

He claimed that he thought the girl was her older sister, although he admitted that he was aware this girl was 16 years old.

“I was stupid, it was a massive mistake,” he told gardaí after he acknowledged that it was also illegal to have sex with a 16-year-old.

Ms Small handed in the girl’s victim impact report into court but it was not read out.

Gda Dempsey agreed with Ms Ní Raifeartaigh that although the man admitted performing a sex act on the girl and having sex with her, he claimed that she had locked the bedroom door and had got on top of him.

He confirmed that the man has always been co-operative and polite with gardaí, has been in full-time employment since he left school and comes from a decent family.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh told Judge Nolan that the probation report concluded that her client was a completely normal young man who has a good attitude and no addiction problem.

It assessed him as being at a low risk of re-offending and indicated that the Probation Service was willing to work with him in the community.

Counsel said her client was not a predator and had reasonable grounds to believe the girl was 16 years old.

“He was an unfortunate young man who has paid a massive price for that mistake and being reckless,” Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said before she asked the court to give “a fair bounce of the ball” to her client.

She said he would be registered a sex offender for five years and he will always have that conviction.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh also asked Judge Nolan to consider the victim impact report and suggested that the girl was “a young lady with difficulties in her life”.

“This certainly didn’t help but this was not the only thing that had happened her,” counsel said.