Man (28) jailed for sexual abuse of eight-year-old cousin

Eimear Dodd

A man who sexually abused his eight-year-old cousin while he was a teenager over a decade ago has been jailed for four years.

The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of oral rape at an address in Sligo during the summer of 2012, when he was 15.

He has no previous convictions and cannot be named to protect the victim's right to anonymity.

Evidence was heard during a sentence hearing earlier this week that the man's offending came to light in 2020 after the then 16-year-old girl told her mother what had happened.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Fionnuala O'Sullivan SC, prosecuting, the injured party said she trusted the man as “someone I looked up to and idolised”.

“All kids idolise people older than them,” she said, later adding, “whatever they said is gospel. Why would they lie?”.

Later in the statement, the young woman said she thought she was to blame for what happened.

“I was a child, but shouldn’t I have known better? I trusted him. Children have trust hardwired into them.”

She said she thought disclosing the abuse would “ruin” family relationships, so she tried to keep it to herself, but it became too much.

She said she initially didn't want to go to gardaí as she didn't “want to ruin his life”. But, she did because “children trust too easily”, and she wanted to protect others.

“I admit I'm paranoid, but that seems reasonable. I trusted a relative not to hurt me,” she said.

“What he did to me took all my trust away. How could someone look at someone so young, so tiny and see a meal waiting to be devoured,” she said.

On Thursday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott expressed the court's hope that the girl would be able to “put any thoughts that you are to blame for any of this out of your head”.

He noted she was a young, innocent child at the time and the blame lies “squarely and only in one place” with her cousin.

“That is where it should be put by her and everyone else unequivocally.”

The judge said the injured party is “clearly a very articulate young woman who has a very significant future ahead of her”.

“Whatever she does in future, she should not allow it to be defined by his wrongdoing,” he said. The judge noted these were “repeated serious offences”, which involved a degree of grooming and exploitation.

“He exploited her regard for him in the most horrible way,” the judge said, noting the disparity in their ages and that the man breached the trust of the girl and her family.

“She looked up to him and was, as he knew, amenable to doing what he asked because of that.”

Mr Justice McDermott said he would set a nine-year sentence for an adult, which he reduced to reflect that the defendant was 15 at the time of his offending.

The judge noted a psychological report suggests that impulsivity, immaturity and inappropriate viewing of pornographic material were factors in the man's offending.

He noted the man's intention to leave the state upon his release from custody means he cannot be placed under the supervision of the Probation Service post-release and as such, a part-suspended sentence was not an option that the court could consider.

The judge backdated the sentence when the man went into custody.

The court previously heard evidence that the girl told specialist gardaí that her 15-year-old cousin stayed with her family over the summer of 2012.

She said they came across a porn site online one day and described other occasions when the boy would put pornographic material on a laptop, which she used to watch cartoons.

She said the boy started to talk to her about sex, blowjobs and contraception, before saying it would be easier if he showed her.

She said he got her to perform oral sex on him in her bedroom. He asked her repeatedly to allow him to do this as they were friends, and it would make him happy.

The girl said she didn't know anything was wrong, thought it was a game and didn't want to stop being his friend.

The girl said she realised it wasn't right. The boy stopped for several days, before resuming the abuse.

The court heard the girl told another cousin, who was about her age, what was happening at the time. This girl confirmed that the injured party said something about the boy making her take off her clothes and watch porn, but said she didn't understand.

In her victim impact statement, the injured party described hating her body, taking boiling hot showers and scrubbing at her skin.

The complainant said she has had panic attacks, including while walking past a man in college who looked similar to the defendant. She added that she is worried she will never be able to have children as she fears she won’t be able to protect them.

She said she didn't expect small changes such as having to eat her favourite chocolate warm and soft, instead of cold. She said she is “terrified” of intimacy, enclosed spaces and has difficulty sleeping.

As part of the investigation, gardaí contacted the man, who was then living in the UK. He voluntarily returned to Ireland in September 2024 and has been in custody since then.

Conor Devally SC, defending, outlined that his client's family moved abroad when he was a small child.

The investigating garda agreed with Mr Devally that there was a difficulty in the man's family in 2012 and it was decided he would spend the summer with relatives in Ireland.

It was accepted that there were no other issues while the man stayed in Ireland that summer, and the offending was not repeated when he visited again the following year.

A psychological report outlines that the man had a difficult upbringing, which it was submitted left him less mature than others his age.

Counsel said his client is ashamed and remorseful for his actions and a letter of apology was handed to the court. The defendant plans to leave Ireland once his sentence is completed, and Mr Devally said his client wants the injured party's family to know he will not be encountered here at the end of his time in custody.

The man has a good work history in the UK and Spain. He is in a long-term relationship and hopes to marry his partner in the future.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.