Young man who raped his cousin allowed finish work placement before facing court

A young girl who was sexually abused by her older cousin has told the Central Criminal Court that his actions will “hang over the family forever”. 

The mother of the now 14-year-old victim read the impact statement to the court.

A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, one of anal rape and one of oral rape on dates between April 28, 2017 and March 27, 2018.

The defendant can't be named to protect the anonymity of the victim, who is his cousin. She was aged between eight and nine when the offending occurred, while he was then around 13 years’ old.

The girl said she thought of the man as a “big brother” who “did everything with us”. She said when she looks back now, “All I see is a monster.”

A local garda told Carol Doherty BL, prosecuting, that the investigation started after Tusla made a referral to gardaí.

The offending occurred at the boy's home and at their grandparents' house in County Dublin. It came to light in 2021, after the girl told her father she didn't want the teenager to go on a family holiday with them as “I don't want him to do to me what he did before.”

She was interviewed by specialist gardaí and said the first incident occurred at the boy's home where he raped her during a sleepover.

He also raped her at their grandparents' house. 

The man was interviewed voluntarily at his local garda station in June 2022, and made full admissions. He told gardaí he felt “disgusted, shocked and hated himself” for his actions.

It was accepted that the defendant told gardaí he was watching a lot of pornography online.

Ms Brennan said her client is extremely remorseful for his actions and the hurt caused to the victim and the wider family.

Her client has suffered with depression and has a diagnosis of ADHD.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the court would take into account that the man was a young teenager when the offending occurred, adding if the man had committed these offences as an adult, he would be “going straight to prison”.

Remanding the man on continuing bail, Mr Justice McDermott adjourned the case to July 1 for the Probation Service carry out a risk assessment and to allow the man to finish his college work placement.