A Co Louth man (21) who raped his 11-year-old cousin four years ago has been jailed for three years.
The man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to three charges of raping the boy between December 2004 and April 2005. The accused was then aged 17. He has no previous convictions.
Mr Justice Paul Carney noted the man was at low risk of re-offending, had entered an early guilty plea and shown remorse. He registered him as a sex offender and ordered that he undergo post-release supervision.
Sgt Mary Clarke told Anne Rowland, prosecuting, that the victim reported the incident to a social worker while he was away on a weekend course.
He was due to be sent home for “exhibiting inappropriate sexual behaviour” when he started to cry and disclosed what had happened.
Sgt Clarke agreed that the man had made “frank admissions and did not try and minimise his own wrongdoing”.