A MAN who was 19 when he had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl will be given an 11-month custodial sentence, a District Court judge said yesterday in Mullingar.
The court heard that the girl’s father had been out looking for her and came upon the couple when they had been together.
After hearing the evidence Judge John Neilan said he was putting an 11-month sentence in place now but would adjourn the matter until January to allow for victim impact and probation reports to be prepared.
Jason Higgins, Castle Grove, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, admitted the offence, which took place in an area outside Mullingar on August 6th, 2008.
The charge read in part that he engaged in sexual intercourse with a child who was under 17 years of age, contrary to section 3 (1) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006, as amended by Section 5 (1) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Act 2007.
The judge accepted that Higgins did not know that 17 is the age of consent.
He referred to a report prepared for the court by consultant psychiatrist Seán Dómhnaill who stated that it is “a very widely held belief” that the age of consent is 16.
However, he pointed out that it had been made clear to Higgins, following a previous supervised date at the victim’s house, that her parents did not feel he was suitable company for her.
Investigating garda Martin Murray read statements from the victim and Higgins.
The victim, who according to Higgins’s solicitor, Louis Kiernan, was “16 and three-quarters” at the time of the offence, said she had been “going out” with Higgins.
They were texting that morning and agreed to meet up at a quiet location near trees where they began kissing before they had sex. Her father then arrived on the scene.
In their statements, both Higgins and the victim indicated that they understood the other wanted to have sex when they talked about going somewhere quiet.
They had been texting each other for about a month when they had sex, having met through a mutual friend.
Judge Neilan said Higgins had “set out fairly and squarely his total involvement” in the incident and that as far as Higgins was concerned “he wasn’t competently aware that the age of consent wasn’t 16.”
However, he referred again to the medical report prepared by Dr Dómhnaill in which Higgins admitted that he was unwelcome at the victim’s house because her parents “don’t have a particular liking for him”.
That the victim’s father was looking for her indicated “some reason to believe that things might not be right”.
“If she went against the wishes of her parents, that’s her business,” he said. However, he added that Higgins was “strictly on notice that he should have absolutely nothing to do with her” .