Man who used Stanley knife to remove contraceptive bar from girl's arm jailed for 'hugely damaging' abuse

Vickers also had sex with the girl's friend, also a young teenager, and gave the girls heroin to smoke.

In their victim impact statements, the girls described how Vickers controlled every aspect of their lives.

The first girl described how Vickers had isolated her from her family and friends and made her feel as if he was the only person she could trust. She described Vickers as an “evil monster” who had left her with scars on her body and taken away her dreams for her future.

She said Vickers had stolen everything from her “for his own perverted happiness” and she did not want that to happen to another child

Her best friend outlined how she had been innocent, naive and oblivious to the dangers of predatory men when she first encountered Vickers. She described how the abuse had had adverse effects on her life but said: “I am not his victim but a survivor.”

The Central Criminal Court heard the girls wished to retain their anonymity but were happy for Vickers to be named.

Vickers, of no fixed abode, who lived at various locations in Co. Mayo during the times of the offences pleaded guilty to five counts of defilement of the first victim on dates between May 2011 and October 2013.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the first victim causing her harm on a date in August 2013. He also admitted defilement of the girl's best friend on a date in July 2013.

Vickers was most recently living in the UK from where he was returned to Ireland on foot of a European Arrest Warrant. He has been in custody since December 2017.

Mr Justice Michael White said this was a “particularly disturbing case” and Vickers was “a manipulative, controlling and violent man”.

He said he accepted defence submissions that Vickers had accepted his guilt and apologized to his victims but noted an interview in the probation report outlining that Vickers had very little insight into the damage he was perpetrating on these young girls.

“These were children, absolutely children, and Mr Vickers was twice their age and that must never be lost sight of,” said Mr Justice White.

The judge said the relationship the accused man had with the first victim was “hugely damaging”, and that his behaviour in relation to the two girls was “of the most base kind”.

He said the plea was the only mitigating factor and was important for two reasons. Firstly that it acknowledged the extreme harm done to the victims and it saved them from giving evidence.

Mr Justice White imposed a sentence of 11 years imprisonment and suspended the final two years on condition Vickers complete an assessment within the prison for the sex offenders treatment program. He said actual participation in the program had to be voluntary.

The court heard that Vickers had sex regularly with the first victim over a two-and-half-year period. He began controlling her and stopping her from seeing her friends.

As time progressed he became more angry and paranoid and would hit her. He checked her phone and told her what she could wear.

The girl said she was terrified of Vickers and his temper. She said he put a knife to her throat on one occasion and stabbed her with a pen on another.

He told her he would put compromising photos of her on the internet and around her home town if she did not do what he said.

He told her the relationship had to be a secret as he would be locked up if it got out. He demanded €50 per week from her for petrol money and took money from her bag.

Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said Vickers acknowledged the gravity of the matter and wished to make an “unequivocal” public apology to the two girls. He asked the court to take into account his client's guilty plea.

He handed in letters from Vickers' father and Vickers' wife who he married in the UK, which he said painted a very different picture of him. He said Vickers was using his time in custody well and working positively to help people there.

A local garda told Vincent Heneghan SC, prosecuting, that the first girl and Vickers got to know each other through mutual acquaintances while she was in secondary school. He asked what year she was in and they began texting to arrange to meet up.

Vickers told her he was physically and emotionally attracted to her but she was nervous of him as she was only 14 years old. The girl's parents also told Vickers that she was 14 years old.

Vickers began engaging in sexual acts with the girl who was nervous and uncomfortable but wanted to please him. He told her she should keep it a secret. He first had sex with the girl in June 2011.

In the time afterwards, Vickers began controlling her and stopping her from seeing her friends. He told her he would only trust her if she had sex with him and she began regularly getting out of her bedroom window to have sex with him in his car or in his flat. She felt it was the only way to keep him happy.

He encouraged the girl to stop using contraception. He was having sex with the girl on a daily basis at this stage threatening her he would leave if she did not do what he wanted. He would climb in through her bedroom window to have sex with her.

He told her they had to keep it a secret as he would be locked up. He continued trying to isolate her from her family and friends and insisting she text only him.

The girl believed Vickers and felt she had to do what he said. She described herself as being sick with worry. Vickers gave the girl heroin a number of times.

He told her it would relax her. She said after taking it she felt her worries disappear and she was able to forget everything.

She said one time they after smoking heroin she refused to have sex with him and he hit her. He assaulted her another time after she had been out with her friends.

She said he began becoming more angry and paranoid and would hit her more often. He was obsessed with checking her phone. He became angry on one occasion when she changed her hair.

The girl had a contraceptive implant placed in her arm in 2013 and when Vickers became aware of this he became annoyed. He tried to get her to get it removed by a doctor and when this failed, he cut the bar from her arm with a Stanley Knife after numbing it with mouth ulcer gel and ice.

Later that year he used a blade and ink to put a tattoo on the girl, telling her he would trust her more.

He disliked the girl wearing nice clothes, made her wear her hair up and took her perfume away.

Vickers also began texting the girl's young friend and had sex with her, telling her not to tell her friend.

The relationship with the first victim ended in October 2013 and the girl made a statement to gardaí. Gardaí recovered a number of items from Vickers house including the girl's underwear, bottles of her perfume and the contraceptive bar he had removed from her arm.

Gardaí also became aware that Vickers had demanded €50 a week from the girl for petrol costs and had taken other sums of money from her bag. They then also became aware of the second victim.