A 16-year-old boy who raped a 15-year-old girl at a teenagers' house party in Dublin last year has been sentenced to six years' detention with the final three years suspended.
The boy, who can not be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the girl in a bedroom on March 5th, 2011. He has no previous convictions and was also 15 at the time of the rape.
Sean Gillane SC, defending, had submitted that the Children Act 2001 indicates that a period of detention should only be imposed on a child as a measure of last resort and only when the court is satisfied there is no other way to deal with the child.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said the offence was a “full blown vaginal rape” and that the provisions of the Children Act could not save the accused from a custodial sentence.
He noted that both parties were very drunk at the house with the accused claiming huge alcohol consumption as well as taking hash. He commented in mitigation that there had been a lack of appropriate adult supervision of both the accused and victim.
Mr Justice Carney took into account the aggravating factors, including the effect on the victim and the condition the accused had got himself into by drug taking and the playing of a drinking game.
He noted the mitigating factors such as the boy’s genuine remorse and suspended the final three years of the detention.
The girl said she had found preparing a victim impact statement difficult. “I did not ask for any of this, and I really want it to be over” she said in the statement that was read in court. She said it still felt as if the offence had happened yesterday. She described how she had been in shock for weeks afterward and had suffered panic attacks.
The girl said she had asked her parents if they could move out of the area as she can see things that remind her of the attack. She said she had also suffered health problems.