A 17-year-old male has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl while playing hide and seek.
The teenager, who cannot be identified, appeared at the Dublin Children’s Court on Friday charged with two counts of sexual assault and one of attempted sexual assault in 2016.
He was due to face trial after had indicated he was contesting the case but changed his plea on Friday. Sentencing was adjourned after Judge John O’Connor heard the facts of the case.
Garda Catherine McEvoy agreed with Antonia Boyle, prosecuting, that a complaint was made a couple of months after the incidents. The girl's mother told gardaí that while on holiday her daughter saw her father naked and asked, 'Why is Daddy's willy down when (the defendant's) does be pointing up?'.
The court heard the girl regularly played with another member of the boy’s family. The girl was interviewed by gardaí with specialist training and the questions and answers were read into the court record.
Garda McEvoy confirmed the case was that, firstly, the accused sexually assaulted the girl by touching her backside with her pants on; on another occasion he tried to touch her vagina with her pants down; and the third charge was for a sexual assault when the boy had his pants down and she saw his penis.
The incident appeared to have happened in the teen’s bedroom and in another room at his home, the court heard.
Nightmares
In a victim impact statement, the girl’s mother told the court her daughter suffered nightmares for months afterwards, will not stay in her own bed alone and “needs mammy with her all the time”. She said her child, now aged eight, had suicidal thoughts for four months after the incidents.
“Her life has been on hold for the last two years, all we want is to move on from this, get on with her lives and back to normal. It’s very hard to explain the hurt and heartache this has had on us as a family,” she said.
Mr McKeone said the the teenager wanted to go to college and that a conviction and possibly being placed on the sex offenders register would make this very difficult.
Judge John O’Connor warned the teenager he could face up to two years in prison. He adjourned the case until a date later this month and the defendant was remanded on continuing bail.