A 14-year-old boy who raped a girl after drinking alcohol for the first time has been given a suspended sentence.
The now 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court following a trial last May. He had pleaded not guilty to a charge of oral rape and rape on September 26th, 2020.
Cathleen Noctor, SC prosecuting, told the court that the victim, who was 15-years-old at the time, had no recollection of the rape due to her level of intoxication. It was accepted by the State that he raped the girl on the basis that she was too incapacitated to be able to consent to having sex with him. “The complainant was incapable of consenting because of the consumption of alcohol,” counsel said.
A victim impact statement was read into the record by a local garda. The girl said she had suffered tremendously and the boy “took something from me that can never be returned”. She said she finds it hard “to connect with people,” and she suffers from nightmares.
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She said her mental health has completely deteriorated, and she feels depressed and has self-harmed. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I wanted to take my own life because of the actions of someone else,” she continued.
She said she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin and used to cover up. She described losing her friends, she felt isolated, and this made her feel more alone than she previously had. She said she didn’t speak to her parents about it because she didn’t want to burden them, and she never felt safe.
The girl described needing “her baby sister to keep her company at night-time” because she couldn’t sleep in the dark anymore. “Home for me is not my home anymore. I had to drive past and face the park [where the rape occurred]. It used to give me horrible triggers,” she said, adding that she couldn’t concentrate in class anymore.
She said she was “objectified”. “I will never feel the same again. You took a number of things from me that I will never gain back again,” the girl said.
Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said his client’s state of mind was “recklessness to the issue of consent”.
“The court is dealing with a 14-year-old boy – in effect, what he did was to completely misread the situation, having taken drink for the first time himself. He must suffer now for the rest of his life having now been labelled a rapist,” counsel submitted, adding that this fact could be considered “part of the punitive effect”.
He further submitted that his client was otherwise of impeccable character, with a reference from an employer describing him as “hardworking, well respected and easy to get along with”.
“The thrust of the probation report is that what happened was not symptomatic or indicative of his character in general,” Mr McGinn said, before adding that his client has begun abusing cannabis as a result of his concern over the legal process that was hanging over his head.
Last Tuesday, a probation officer, who was one of three such officers who met with the boy, outlined her work to date with the accused. She works in a community-based treatment programme for young people aged between 13 and 18 years old who have sexually offended.
She said that the boy has now acknowledged that the girl, as heavily under the influence of alcohol as she was, was not in a position to give consent that night.
The probation officer said that at the time of the rape, the boy’s sexual education had not gone beyond what he had learned at primary school, nor had he discussed any issues around consent or sex with his parents.
She told Ms Justice Biggs that treatment would also be available to the boy around the misuse of drugs and alcohol, antisocial behaviour and peer influences. She confirmed that the boy has shown motivation to engage with these treatments.
She agreed with Ms Justice Biggs that her general impression was that the boy was “open to assistance and guidance”, and she had found him “to be reliable and truthful” in his answers.
Ms Justice Biggs acknowledged that although the teenager had pleaded not guilty to the offence of rape, he has indicated through his legal team that “he now accepts the jury’s verdict”.
Ms Justice Biggs previously noted that any period of detention imposed on the teenager cannot go beyond his 18th birthday, which is later this year.
Sentencing the teenager on Friday, Ms Justice Biggs said she had “grappled with the power” of what sentence she could give in this case and that only “the most exceptional cases” of rape could warrant a suspended sentence.
Ms Justice Biggs said the accounts of the probation services were the most helpful pieces of material in understanding the defendant.
Ms Justice Biggs said the defendant was “emotionally and sexually immature” and had not received substantial sex education as he was only in his third year of secondary school at the time of the offence. She said he was aware of “the basic mechanics” regarding sexual activity but not the social and emotional aspects of it, which he would need to further develop.
Ms Justice Biggs said a letter from the boy’s mother had been provided to the court, which described her son as someone who had never previously caused any trouble.
The court heard that the sentence for a case of rape would be seven to ten years but that “a discount” would be provided to the defendant based on several mitigating factors.
Ms Justice Biggs said that “mitigation is increased by age” due to the defendant’s status as a juvenile, detailed in the Children’s Act 2001.
Ms Justice Biggs said “a large discount” to the defendant’s sentencing would be given due to the years-long delay in bringing this case to court and finalising it, adding that it had been unfair to the personal lives of both the defendant and the victim.
The court heard the probation services had recommended the teenager be given a suspended sentence, which the judge deemed as “appropriate”.
Ms Justice Biggs imposed a fully suspended sentence of 106 days of detention to the boy with conditions that he attends all appointments with the probation services, engage in HSE drug and alcohol addiction counselling and be of good behaviour.