A woman who was repeatedly raped by her uncle when she was a little girl, Thursday, called on the State to electronically tag him and other known sex offenders order to protect children from them.
Sonya Stokes told a demonstration held at City Hall on Thursday evening, that her paedophile uncle Joseph Hogan, and all other convicted sex offenders, should be housed on “Spike Island”, a former island prison located off the Cork coast, to prevent them harming other victims.
Hogan, (71), Rose Court, Keyes Park, returned to Stokes’ native Treaty City after he was freed from prison last Thursday, after serving a ten-year sentence for raping her over a four-year period, from 1984-1988.
Ms Stokes, who presently lives in Portaloise, said she returns to Limerick three days-a-week providing support to other victims of sexual abuse.
Seeing or bumping into Hogan in the street in their home city fills her with dread and “more trauma”, Ms Stokes explained.
Calling on law makers to make it a crime for convicted sex offenders to live or work in the same city, town, village or area as were their victims reside or work, Ms Stokes said: “I should feel safe in my home town, and I don’t want to be booking into a hotel and meet him in a lift while I’m in there, because I can’t say what my reaction would be.”
“I, as the victim, should not be put in that position and I should not have to fight this fight.
“Speaking out is my duty to protect other children, and the State needs to make this change and that’s the bottom line”.
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Ms Stokes said that, after his release from jail, Hogan was initially residing at a Limerick hotel, where “vulnerable women and children” were staying.
She said Hogan vacated the hotel after she informed the premises about his horrific child sex crimes. Hogan’s last known whereabouts were in a building located very near a school.
“I spoke with the manager, who was flabbergasted. He (Hogan) was booked into the hotel under a different name. It’s just not acceptable, it’s just not good enough,” said Ms Stokes.
There are a number of convicted sex offenders, including several convicted paedophiles, living in Limerick City, however Ireland, unlike other countries does not have a publicly accessible sex offenders register.
In 2015 Hogan was jailed for 15 years after a jury at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty of raping Ms Stokes when she was a child. What the jury did not know at the time was that Hogan had previous convictions in 1973 and 1974, in Ireland and in England, for indecently assaulting young girls.
Ms Stokes was accompanied at Thursday’s protest by fellow Limerick woman, Leona O’Callaghan, who was raped by Patrick “Whacker” O’Dea, Pike Avenue, Limerick, when she was 13; and by Shaneda Daly, Shannon, Co Clare, who as a child was raped daily by her prison officer father, Harry Daly.
Ms Stokes said: “This is very important to me and other victims. My happiest days were when he (Hogan) was locked up, and now he is out and living in Limerick and I am not even sleeping.”
“Ok, he is out and he is entitled, as a human, to live somewhere, but he should not have his freedom in our home town, he should not have rights to live in the same town where he offended.”
To prevent paedophiles going underground if outed, Ms Stokes said: “Put them in an institution, open up the likes of Spike Island and put them there, they shouldn’t be around a school or a creche.”
“Last night he (Hogan) was spotted in a premises across the road from where I go when I come into Limerick every week.”
Calling for a change in the law, Ms Stokes said: “Enough is enough, what is happening is wrong, it is just wrong.”
Ms Stokes also called for “increased garda supervision of known sex offenders”.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
