THE courts had a duty to the whole community but hurried legislation had led to over emphasising the victim's hurt, a leading barrister claimed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in a sex assault case.
The victim rejected offers of compensation by two Wexford men who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her on June 13th.
Mr John Peart SC, prosecuting, said, she preferred the court to decide how they should be punished.
Mr Gregory Murphy SC, defending, said a crime was an action against the community and not just against a specific victim.
He was representing Gerard Jackson (19), of Kilcavan, Tara Hill, Gorey who was jailed for one year.
His client had behaved "like a little blackguard" on the occasion, but it was unfair that the case was being dealt with two years later. Society would not benefit now by depriving him of his apprenticeship.
The second man, Michael Lenehan (21), of Etchingham Heights, Courtown Harbour, has been remanded in custody for sentence on October 7th next.
Judge Cyril Kelly said Mr Murphy was right on the courts' primary concern. But that was merely one of the concerns in the application of the criminal law in a case of opportunistic male sexual degradation of a comatose woman.
He would have given a longer sentence than the 12 months he imposed on Jackson but an older co-accused had been jailed for 15 months by a more senior and learned judicial colleague in another court. This had set a parameter for sentence.
Judge Kelly complimented Det Garda Thomas Byrne for his work on the case. He noted the only evidence against both defendants was their own statements.
Det Garda Byrne said another man was facing a rape charge before the Central Criminal Court arising out of the same incident, which had happened late at night.
The two accused men had revealed in their statements that a number of males had interfered with the victim. Both men denied having sexual intercourse with the woman, who remained comatose throughout.
The victim had rejected the money offer, and he would have expected nothing else, the detective garda said.