Clare teen defiled girl, 15, during sleepover in tent, court hears

A Co Clare teen defiled a 15-year-old girl while the girl was on a sleepover in a tent in the back garden of a friend's house.

On July 30, 2016, the then 18-year-old Co Clare male travelled to the rural Co Westmeath address and had "consensual sexual intercourse", which was unprotected, with the 15-year-old girl.

The 15-year old girl was on a sleepover celebrating the 15th birthday of a friend and the friend’s parents were in the house at the time and had no knowledge that the 18-year-old male and another male were on their property with the girls.

The accused - now 21 - has pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Court to the defilement of a child aged under 17 years old on July 30, 2016, at an address in Co Westmeath and an address in north Clare on December 27, 2016.

The second male involved is also facing sex offence charges relating to a friend of the 15-year-old girl and she is also from Co Westmeath.

The girls told their mothers that they were visiting a friend in Athlone in December 2016. However, they had travelled to Co Clare where the 15-year-old had sex with the then 18-year-old.

The two had met first through Facebook in November 2015 when the girl was aged 14 and the boy was 17.

According to Sgt Bobby Feery, one of the questions that the male asked the girl if she was still a virgin.

In a statement to gardaí concerning the two having sexual intercourse in the tent in July 2016, the girl said: “I agreed to have sex. He did not pin me down or make me feel that I was forced into it.”

She stated: “I felt comfortable but wary that we had no protection. I couldn't quite believe that we were after having sex. It was my first time. I was a virgin before this.”

The girl told gardaí: “We had a cuddle after and we fell asleep.”

The male told the girl that he was 16, not 17 when they first made contact. She said: “If he had told the truth I would have kept my distance from him after that."

In a statement to gardaí, the male said:

I thought 16 was the legal age to have sex in Ireland.

He said that where he is from in Co Clare “there is a two-year rule”.

Sgt Feery said that the girl is now in third level college and didn’t want to make a victim impact statement.

Counsel for the now 21-year-old male, Patrick Whyms BL said the age between the two was two and a half years and his client had just turned 18 a few weeks before the first encounter in July 2016.

He said: “Legally, we have an adult and a child having sex but really we have two teenagers having consensual sexual activity as a result of contact on social media."

He added: “The girls went to a lot of trouble to get themselves down to Clare for the second event.”

Mr Whyms said that his client has already been punished for what occurred as he is now placed on the sex offenders’ register.

He said that his client is a very talented soccer player and has had to miss a career opportunity overseas in order to comply with bail conditions attached to the case.

Mr Whyms said that his client “greatly regrets” what occurred “and fully accepts that he was wrong”.

In terms of the level of the offending, Mr Whyms said that it is hard to construct a set of circumstances that could be lower.

He said: “My client had barely turned 18 engaging in consensual sex; admitted his involvement, has no previous convictions and has co-operated fully with Gardaí. It is hard to imagine a lower end of any scale.”

Judge Gerald Keys said that he would sentence the accused at a later date and remanded him on continuing bail.