Man who raped his younger cousin when he was 13 is jailed

A young teenager who raped a nine-year-old relative almost a decade ago has been jailed for four years.

The man (23), who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, pleaded guilty to one count of rape on an unknown date in March 2014. He was aged 13 at the time, while the victim, who is a relative of his, was then nine.

He was given a separate 3½-year sentence by the Central Criminal Court in July this year, after pleading guilty to the sexual assault of a different female cousin between 2013 and 2018. That victim was aged between six and 11 at the time of the abuse.

Imposing sentence on Monday, Ms Justice Ellen Ring said the aggravating factors included the victim’s age, the age difference between her and the defendant, and that he was abusing another relative at that time.

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She said the man was “well aware that his actions were not just wrong, but very wrong”.

Ms Justice Ring said she would have set a headline sentence of 11 years if the offence had been committed by an adult, which she reduced to six years due to the defendant’s age at the time of offending.

She imposed a sentence of five years and suspended the final year on strict conditions including that the man place himself under the supervision of the Probation Service for two years post-release. She backdated the sentence to July 17th last, when he entered a guilty plea.

The court heard that the teenager, the girl and two others were playing truth or dare. The defendant persuaded the other two to leave him alone with the victim. He then raped her.

The victim did not report what happened until 2019 as she felt guilty and felt that the family would blame her and stop speaking to her.

The defendant was interviewed by gardaí in August 2019 and charged in 2020.

A guilty plea was later entered.

In her victim impact statement, the girl described the defendant as a “cold, calculating predator” who used her for his own pleasure. She said the teenager threatened her that her mother would stop loving her if she told anyone.

She said this incident had damaged her emotionally, physically and mentally.

She noted that the extended family had been close, but felt her family were treated as if they had done something wrong when the abuse came to light.

Ms Justice Ring said the girl had displayed “immense courage” and wished her well in the future.

Ms Justice Ring noted the boy was exposed to adult pornography when he was 12 and it was “worrying” that he stated the victim was the only female he had access to and did not consider the harmful or long-term effects of his actions on her.

She said the man had raped the girl because she was “available to him”.