A woman has spoken at length for the first time of being abused by grown men for sex when she was 13, including by a former karaoke DJ jailed today.
Father of three Paul Gilmore (30), who is also a former leader of the Rory Gallagher tribute festival in Ballyshannon, was jailed for two years, with 15 months suspended. He was also ordered to be placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
The woman, who is now aged 20, was in Donegal Circuit Court to hear sentence passed on Gilmore, of Lawne Park, Ballyshannon.
Judge Gerard Griffin said he shuddered at what might have befallen the girl as a 13-year-old tearaway if gardaí had not exposed her abuse by several older men.
Gilmore’s sentence came a day after Leo Forde (26), who denied three sex assault offences against the girl, was found guilty by a jury and remanded in custody for probation reports until July 5th.
Two other men who admitted the offences last week and who are on bail are also due for examination by the probation service and they will be back in court on July 5th.
Another man who was convicted by a jury last year is serving a jail term. A sixth man who has also denied a sex assault is to be tried in December.
The court heard that at all times the girl consented to sex but this was not a defence because of her age.
When hearing the facts about the charges against Gilmore, Judge Gerard Griffin was told he pleaded guilty to three out of eight offences but it was agreed that all details about his links to the girl be spelled out in court.
The judge heard that Gilmore, a lorry driver and casual labourer, took the 13-year-old to bed in his home while his partner was giving birth in hospital.
The court heard the relationship had survived although Gilmore's partner wept as she sat beside him in court and heard details of his admitted sex assaults on the girl in July, September and November 2003.
Investigating Garda Liam Feeney told of how the couple exchanged texts before they had sex in Gilmore’s car on three nights near a disused football field close to a beach.
On another occasion they had sex in a caravan at a town-centre funfair.
They also had sex in his car in a secluded wooded area while Gilmore played a tape of himself singing a Westlife song. On other occasions, they returned to the wooded area when they had sex in a new car Gilmore had bought.
Gda Feeney said Gilmore had a five-year-old child at the time and he and the girl, who had a glass of vodka first, had sex in a bedroom in his house while his partner was in hospital having a second baby.
In her victim impact statement read in court the woman, who is now in a steady relationship, wrote of initially believing men she had sex with were in love with her. When gardaí approached, little did she realise it was the beginning of the end of her life as she knew it
When in care for the next four years she ran away as much as she could and took drugs and wrote suicide notes. She wondered would she ever have a normal life.
She added that she was encouraged while in care to reflect and understand for the first time that she was an innocent child who was sexually abused.
Her father frequently was subjected to taunts and was accused of pimping her out and being called an animal.
She continued: “I never enjoyed sex. I just didn’t want to say no. For this I lost my childhood. I missed out on all the normal things.”
She didn’t feel raped, but she felt robbed of her childhood and this would remain with her.
Her statement concluded: “I am a victim of child sex abuse and I stand before this court to have my voice heard for myself and the young children who are vulnerable and in need of protection.”
Passing sentence, Judge Griffin said Gilmore could have faced up to 14 years in jail for each of the three charges he admitted. “He admitted the facts and sexual intercourse happened on eight occasions. He knew she was 13 and not under the care of her parents and running wild at the time. He took advantage of her for his own sexual gratification. He knew or ought to have known she came from a dysfunctional family which was not likely to call a halt to the abuse.”
He added: “The psychological effect on the victim was harrowing.”
Gilmore’s guilty plea, although he waited six years before he admitted the offences, saved the victim having to give evidence and being cross-examined.
The judge commended Garda Liam Feeney for “swift” action in bringing the abuses of the girl to an end. "It’s a fine example of good police work and I can only shudder at what may have happened to the victim if he didn’t act so fast.”
The judge also paid tribute to the victim for “great courage and fortitude” in the cases. She had wondered “was this all my fault?” He told her the answer was "a very firm No”.
Two other men, Colin Reynolds (27), unemployed, and chef Ronan Lowther (25), who were also accused of sex assaults on the same girl, pleaded guilty last week and were remanded for probation reports to July 5th.
Reynolds, of Highfield, Ballyshannon, who married last Saturday, admitted one offence against the girl in school grounds when she was aged 12 between June 1st and August 31st 2002.
Lowther(25), from Mountcharles, admitted one offence of unlawful sex in October 2003, when the girl was 13.
One man from Ballyshannon, 34-year-old former Army private Kenneth McDonald, a father of three, was jailed last June for two years and three months when a jury convicted him on four counts of sex assaults on the girl.
Charges are still outstanding against one other man who is on bail and faces trial at the next sessions of Donegal Town Circuit Court in December.
The courts heard that the girl had full sex 57 times with 22 adult men when she was 13 and when she was still playing with a friend’s Barbie doll and pulling its hair.
She kept a diary of her encounters and a “period chart” to help her identify the father if she became pregnant.
At one stage, gardaí said that initially they were concerned there was a child-sex ring in the area but this proved untrue.