A boy who was 13 when he sexually abused and kicked a young woman is said to be being held at the Obertown Children’s Detention Campus for 18 months.
The young woman’s face was so badly injured that the facial recognition app did not recognize her when she tried to call her parents.
Last month the boy, now 15, was convicted in Cork Criminal Circuit Court of sexually assaulting the woman after following her home from a night out in Cork city centre.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assault on the same night in January 2022, in which he injured the woman in her 20s.
The woman said in court that she appeared terrified after the attack.
“I tried to ring my parents, but I have facial identification on my phone and the phone wouldn’t open up because I looked so horrendous and when I saw my face on the camera phone later, I just freaked out,” reports Breaking News.
Detective Sergeant Katrine Tansley told the sentencing hearing on Friday that the woman left Cork city center after a night out at 11.25pm on 29 January 2022.
While she was on Evergreen Street, she was approached from behind by a 13-year-old boy who Detective Sergeant Tansley said “struck her on the back of the head knocking her on to the ground and hitting her in the head,” reports Breaking News.
The woman said she was determined not to let what happened rule her life. However, she has difficulty walking on her own.
“Even walking during the day if I hear or think I hear footsteps I find it hard to breathe and start panicking. It feels like I’m back in the moment I was being assaulted. I usually wait for the person to pass me in order to try to calm down. I would say I have a good relationship with my family, and they have helped me hugely over the last year. I have noticed the impact that this has had on them. No matter where I go my parents won’t fall asleep until I’m home, and they feel they need to check in on me, day and night,” the woman said, reports Breaking News.
The teenager claimed he tried to help the woman and was attacked by three other men. He said his plan was to go after her.
At the sentencing hearing on Friday, defense solicitor Siobhan Lankford said she was aware of the seriousness of the offence. She pleaded for leniency in the case, saying her client had never been in trouble before the incident.
Judge Catherine Staines said it was a “disturbing” aspect of the case that the youngster had been viewing pornography since he was 11 years old.
“I think it is truly shocking that this is available to vulnerable, impressionable young people. Clearly these companies are making vast sums of money from selling pornographic material. More rigorous restrictions should be imposed on them to prevent this harmful material being available to young children,” reports Breaking News.
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