A man who raped a teenage girl after a New Year’s Eve party has been jailed for seven years.
The 35-year-old was sent forward from the District Court to the Central Criminal Court on signed guilty pleas to one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault on January 1st, 2023.
The court heard the then 17-year-old girl, her sister and mother were temporarily staying at the home of their mother’s partner after becoming homeless a few months earlier. The man is a nephew of the girl’s mother’s partner and was also living in the same house. He cannot be identified to protect his victim’s anonymity.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the man has four previous convictions for defilement of a child under 17, a female cousin, for which he received a sentence of 3½ years in 2018.
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The court was told that the man first sexually assaulted the victim in a car on the way back from a New Year’s Eve party. The girl’s mother, her partner and another woman were also in the car at the time.
The girl did not say anything when they arrived home and went to bed. She’d had some drinks at the party and was drifting in and out of sleep when the man sexually assaulted her twice more, then raped her.
Reading her impact statement, the young woman told the man: “You have not only hurt me, but ruined me.”
She added: “You made me hate myself. I can’t look at myself in mirror.”
She said the man’s actions also affected her family, many of whom blamed themselves because they were asleep in the house when the rape occurred.
The victim said she is in therapy and has experienced nightmares, sleepless nights and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the man exploited the teenager’s vulnerabilities as she had not only consumed alcohol but had experienced homelessness. He said the man had “brazenly” sexually assaulted the girl in his uncle’s car, then deliberately continued his offending, which escalated to rape.
Mr Justice McDermott noted that the man violated the girl’s sense of security, her trust and the trust of his family.
He said the man’s previous convictions were a “significant” aggravating feature. He noted the man had committed a serious sexual offence against a family member and “within a relatively short period of time and while still on sex offenders’ register, he went on to commit these offences in the same home”.
Mr Justice McDermott said the court regarded this as a “more serious case” in light of the aggravating factors and set a headline sentence on the rape count of 12 years.
He said the man was entitled to a “high degree of mitigation” due to his very early pleas. But, he said the man’s expressions of remorse and regret had be to considered in light of his “serious lack of insight” into his offending.
He imposed a sentence of eight years with the final 12 months suspended for two years on strict conditions.
Mr Justice McDermott expressed the court’s hopes that things would improve for the young woman in the future.
He said there is a tendency in cases like this for complainants or family members to blame themselves, but this was inappropriate and “means everyone damages themselves further”. He said the only person to blame was the offender.
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