Suspended sentence for man who invited 15-year-old boy to have sex in his bed

A man who sent a 15-year-old boy explicit social media messages inviting the child to have sex with him has received a fully suspended sentence.

Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said today that proportionality needed to be observed with regard to the term imposed, and sentenced Eddie Smith (45) to 16 months imprisonment, suspended in its entirety for 18 months.

Smith, of Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin knew the teenager and met him on a bus a week before the Gay Pride Festival.

They had a brief chat before the boy's older sister arrived and the conversation stopped.

The following morning the child woke up to find a number of messages from Smith sent to him through Facebook messenger.

Smith pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual exploitation in that he invited a child to engage in or participate in a sexual act on June 19, 2015. He has no previous convictions.

Previously Garda Paul Dempsey told Maurice Coffey BL, prosecuting, that the messages began by asking the boy by name how he was, before telling him he was “hot” and asking if he would like to have sex.

“We could meet up at Gay Pride. Text me, We can have sex in my bed,” Smith continued before he asked the child how big his penis was, telling him “Your feet are big”.

Gda Dempsey said Smith asked the boy to meet for oral sex. He confirmed that all the messages had been sent at 3am that morning.

“You were 42, he was 15, the messages were graphic, explicit, and unsolicited,” Judge Ní Chúlacháin told Smith.

She said that the offence did not, however, appear to be premeditated, but rather was the product of “late-night alcohol intake, and was spur of the moment”.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin said the incident appeared to be isolated and a “one-off series of messages”, and that the defendant was “otherwise of good character”.

She said that incident had a very serious impact on the injured party, who had been scared by what had happened, which had led him to “hate his life”.

In passing sentence, the judge took into account the mitigating circumstances of the case, including the guilty plea entered by Smith, an action which had “given emotional comfort to the victim and saved him the trauma of giving evidence”.

While the plea was not an early one, the judge said it still served as a significant mitigation, and that she would be discounting the sentence passed by 20% as a result.

Regarding Smith, she said he was a single man whose long term partner had died in tragic circumstances in recent years. She said he had a difficult childhood, was unemployed and had a history of mental health issues.

She said that probation services had assessed Smith as being a medium risk of re-offending and that his issues surrounding isolation and loneliness needed to be addressed.

She stressed that Smith had no previous convictions, and aside from the incident in question he appeared to be of good character.

She said, however, that in terms of remorse he had not immediately acknowledged his guilt, and had concocted a “cock and bull story” for gardaí, indicating that he was more concerned regarding the consequences for himself of his actions than those of his victim.

However, she added that later engagement with probation services had shown Smith “the impact of what he’d done”.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin said that, after careful consideration, she had decided to sentence Smith to one year and four months imprisonment.

She suspended the sentence for 18 months on condition that he continue to focus on his victim support work, engage with mental health services as prescribed, and continue to attend the Matt Talbot Community Trust, a group which engages with the unique social issues that lead to drug use.

She also directed that Smith be added to the sex offenders register for a period of five years.

'A fresh start'

A victim impact statement from the now 18-year-old stated that he was scared of Smith because he was older and bigger than him and that he feared for his safety.

He now has plans to move away from Ireland to Australia for a year “for a fresh start”.

A warrant was issued for Smith's arrest when he failed to turn up at a trial date. Gda Dempsey agreed that he “sought” Smith out and found that he was in “a crisis having finally faced up to the charges”.

Smith needed medical attention that day and was taken to hospital. He later changed his plea and admitted the offences.

Mr Coffey said that Gda Dempsey should be commended for his “Trojan efforts” in dealing with the case as he had, particularly in assisting Smith when he failed to turn up for his trial. He described the officer as “going beyond the call of duty”.

Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said that a probation report before the court indicated that Smith was at a “medium risk of re-offending unless he deals with his risk factors”.

She noted that Smith's primary issue was difficulties with his mental health and said he would need some time to deal with that. The judge said she would give Smith a chance to engage with the relevant services and ordered an updated probation report to re-assess his risk of re-offending.

“I accept that he is now facing up to things. I don't want to leave things hanging around considering the victim is trying to move on,” Judge Ní Chúlacháin said before she remanded Smith on continuing bail to July 1 next.

Gda Dempsey said the boy didn't reply to the messages and immediately showed the messages to his older sister who contacted Smith about it.

Smith claimed he had sent the messages to the boy by mistake.

Gda Dempsey agreed with Mr Coffey that Smith claimed in a subsequent garda interview that he had meant to send the messages to a man of the same name living in Westmeath, while he had told the boy's sister the intended recipient of the messages lived in Galway.

Gda Dempsey said gardaí didn't accept Smith's explanation as the child had a very specific username which was accompanied with a profile photograph. They also couldn't find a man with the same name in either Galway or Westmeath.

Gda Dempsey agreed with Jennifer Jackson BL, defending, that Smith had not come to garda attention since and had had no further contact with the teenager.

He accepted that his partner passed away a few years ago and he suffers very badly with both depression and anxiety.

Gda Dempsey agreed with Ms Jackson that her client's “version of events” simply did not add up and was “a ridiculous concoction”.