Man to be sentenced for teenage abuse of young cousin
The Cork man, now aged 25, has pleaded guilty to a number of counts of sexual assault, oral rape and anal rape
A teenager who was sexually abused by her older cousin when she was six told a court he “ruined her life before it had started”.
The now 16-year-old girl read her victim impact evidence this Friday, October 18, during a sentencing hearing of her older cousin at the Central Criminal Court.
The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to three counts of oral rape, two of anal rape and five counts of sexual assault at locations in Co. Cork. He can't be named to protect his victim's anonymity.
The Central Criminal Court heard the abuse occurred between 2014 and 2018 when the girl was aged between six and ten.
The girl outlined in her victim impact evidence that she suffered from nightmares, feelings of anger and pain and freezes in fear if she saw a man who resembled the defendant.
She said the man “traumatised” her, and “my body no longer felt like my own”.
The girl said she often wonders if she made the right choice at age 11 when gardai became involved. However, she knows “if I had to do it again, I would”, though she said she would take better care of herself. “This process had to happen as I deserve justice, and six-year-old me deserves justice”.
The girl said, “The defendant ruined my life before it had even started”, adding that he was her cousin and knew she was only six, but he continued.
A local garda told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl disclosed some of the abuse during 2019 and was interviewed by specialist gardai. At this point, she did not make any allegations of anal or oral rape.
She said the first incident took place in the boy's bedroom when she was around six and he was 14. He touched her genital area outside her clothing and got her to touch his penis.
She outlined several other similar incidents, including one where the teenage boy made her sit on his lap.
The incidents occurred both at his home and the victim's, where the teenage boy occasionally babysat his cousin while her mother ran errands.
She estimated the sexual assaults occurred up to three times a week, or around 50 times in total.
The man was voluntarily interviewed by gardai in December 2019 and admitted to the sexual assaults. He said he felt “reluctant” to stop and didn't think the girl would tell anyone. He told gardai he didn't believe it was about sexual attraction, adding that he took advantage of the girl.
The court heard the girl made a disclosure about the anal and oral rapes to Tusla in late 2020. She later told specialist gardai that the teenager locked his bedroom door before this abuse occurred.
The girl said she was seven or eight when this type of abuse started, and it occurred several times, ending when she was nine or 10.
The man was interviewed again by gardai and admitted this abuse. He said there were around seven incidents of anal rape over six months. He accepted he had locked his bedroom door and also admitted to orally raping the girl on several occasions.
The court heard the man has no previous convictions and has not come to recent garda attention.
He has a diagnosis of Asperger's and is currently completing an apprenticeship.
Probation and psychological reports were handed into the court.
Defence counsel said her client accepts full responsibility for his offending and acknowledged to a probation officer that he took advantage of a vulnerable child.
She said the man is ashamed, regrets his actions and is apologetic.
Counsel outlined to the court that the man started to watch pornography when he was 11 and having consumed a “large amount” at a young age, he then developed a “warped view of sexuality” while his cousin “had the misfortune to come into his path at that point”.
The man's mother was in court. While she is supportive of him, she is “mortified” and has found it difficult to accept his actions, counsel said. He has been shunned by a large portion of his family, including his grandparents, due to his behaviour.
Counsel asked the court to take into account that most of the offending appears to have occurred while the man was himself a juvenile and asked for as much leniency as possible for her client.
Ms Justice Mary-Ellen Ring adjourned the case for finalisation to October 29, at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork.