A man who raped a 13-year-old girl after a teenage boy had finished having consensual sex with her says he “honestly did not know” the victim’s age, reports Breaking News.
The 27-year-old, whose name cannot be released for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to rape at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on April 11, 2021.
Giving verdict on Monday, Judge Eileen Creedon said the court’s maximum sentence was life imprisonment.
She said the Director of Public Prosecutions had recommended a sentence of 10 to 15 years and the judge set the main sentence at 11 years.
Ms Justice Creedon said the victim in the case was a child and the defendant was a much older man.
She added that the girl “made it known in advance of meeting him that she did not wish to have sex”, however, he used his “dominance”, reports Breaking News.
The judge announced that she would take into account as a mitigating circumstance the allegation of the defendant’s original conviction, which was of significant value to the victim in the case.
She also took into account his letter of apology, the lack of previous convictions of this kind and the absence of any crimes of this kind.
The judge sentenced the man to nine years sentence in prison.
The victim did go to gardaí, and the accused was arrested and questioned. He denied anything to do with the events of the night, and when shown the CCTV footage from the bus of the upset girl, he said, “That’s nothing to do with me” and “It doesn’t make me feel anything ‘cos I didn’t do anything”, reports Breaking News.
In a victim impact report, the girl stated she was a child and “this monster took away my childhood. My whole life changed. He took a part of me. I’m hurting so bad. I’ll never be myself again,” she wrote. She added that she blamed herself at times and felt so dirty “and even dirtier when people found out,” reports Breaking News.
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