'You are an incredibly strong human being': Judge praises teen subjected to 'unspeakable' abuse

The judge sentenced his tormentor to ten years in prison 

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs told the 18-year-old victim that he had “much to offer the world” and that the world had much to offer him.

A judge has told a teenager that he is an “incredibly strong human being” to bring his rapist to justice, saying that what had been done to him as a child was “unspeakable”.

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs told the 18-year-old victim that he had “much to offer the world” and that the world had much to offer him.

She sentenced his tormentor, a 51-year-old man from Offaly, to ten years in prison after taking into account mitigation factors and the possibility of rehabilitation.

The defendant had originally been charged on 87 counts of rape and sexual assault and his trial was about to proceed last November when he entered a late plea of guilty to a sample 27 counts.

The offences took place between 2015 and 2019 when the boy was aged between 10 and 14.

The victim, who turns 19 next month, was present in the court via videolink on large TV screens from a designated victims’ room elsewhere in the Criminal Courts of Justice, while his mother was in the body of the court.

Ms Justice Biggs said a local garda gave evidence that the offences took place in a total of 11 locations, including homes, vehicles and a boat.

The judge said the defendant entered into a relationship with the victim’s mother, a single parent, and gradually gained her trust.

He adopted a “fatherly” role and often spent the weekends and school holidays babysitting.

The judge said the accused engaged in “habitual” rape and sexual abuse of the victim in bedrooms as well as the boat.

She said the victim suffered “great turmoil” during this time, but that he managed to provide statements to gardaí in September 2020 and February 2021 of the “horrendous” abuse he had suffered.

The defendant was arrested and questioned that February but “denied any wrongdoing”.

She said the defendant “manipulated and controlled” the boy and bought a PlayStation to allure and reward him and, at other times, gave him alcohol.

He had told the child that no one would believe him if he did tell others and that it would harm his own family if he did.

Ms Justice Biggs said the impact of the abuse had been described best by the victim in the statement he gave to the court last month.

He said the sight of specific vehicles, similar to his attacker's, would trigger him and that he was very sensitive to smells, which would make him sick and nauseous.

He was “hypervigilant” and that his secondary education suffered greatly and that he was troubled.

The judge said the victim described “holding all the anger and shame in and lashing out if something small happened”.

He went from having friends and being popular in primary school to not fitting in in secondary school and being “full of rage” and feeling isolated and shamed.

“My childhood and youth was taken away from me,” the victim said in his statement. “This is a life sentence for me.” 

Ms Justice Biggs said it was “evident” from his words that he had suffered “emotional torment and years of anguish” as a consequence of the abuse.

She praised him for being able to write such “profound words” in his statement.

Address the victim, she said: “You are an incredibly strong human being. What was done to you was unspeakable.” 

She said she hoped he would get the help he needs and realise “how much you have to offer the world and how much the world has to offer you”.

The judge said the abuse was aggravated by the fact it was “habitual”, over four to five years, and “depraved” in nature.

She said the abuse happened when the child was at a young age and in a vulnerable period during puberty.

In addition, there was a “significant breach of trust” in his relationship with the boy’s mother.

She took into account mitigation factors, such as his plea of guilty, though she noted this came “quite late” in the day and his expression of remorse.

She noted from psychological and probation service reports the defendant had a “very limited insight” into his crimes and was at a “high or well above average” risk of reoffending.

Ms Justice Biggs said the impact of abuse “can’t be quantified”. She took the maximum sentence of 15 years for the rape charges and applied a headline sentence of 14 and a half years.

She gave him a 25% credit for his plea and remorse, giving a sentence of 10 years and nine months.

She suspended the final nine months for two years on strict condition of entering rehabilitation with a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for sexual assault offences to run concurrently.

She directed five years of post-release supervision.

The defendant showed little reaction during sentencing.