Wexford farm labourer jailed for abuse of schoolgirl
A Wexford farm labourer who raped a schoolgirl several times has been jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The 29-year-old man who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity pleaded guilty to six sample counts of raping the then nine to 12-year-old girl who is related to him on dates from 1997 to 1999.
Mr Justice Carney directed that the man's name be added to the register of sex offenders and that he undergo 10 years post release supervision.
Mr Justice Carney said the range of penalty open to the court went from a suspended sentence to life imprisonment.
He said he was required to place this particular case at its proper place on that scale in accordance with its facts and then to discount from it on such facts as were in favour of the defendant and he was also required to provide "a tunnel of hope" for him.
Mr Justice Carney said he assessed this case as meriting a 15-year term taking into consideration "the heinousness of the crime, the breach of trust, the victim's age, the impact it had on her and that the Director of Public Prosecutions regarded it as being on the higher end of penalty range".
Mr Justice Carney said that taking into account the man's early guilty plea, his previous good character and work record, his immediate admissions and his youth at the time of offending, he imposed 10 year terms on each count to run concurrently.
Sergeant Sean Lee told prosecuting counsel, Mr Ronan Kennedy BL, that the rapes happened in a bedroom, hayseed and pig shed when the victim visited the man's house. She was 12 and getting her periods and he was 20 or 21-years-old when it stopped.
He would tell her each time not to reveal what happened to anyone and she was afraid of him because she had seen him firing a shotgun into the air.
Sergeant Lee told Mr Kennedy that he came voluntarily to the garda station and made admissions but denied he had threatened the girl or her family though he agreed he asked her not to tell anyone.
When asked if anybody in the family had suspicions about the matter he replied. "I was careful."
Sergeant Lee agreed that the woman didn't want to address the court in person but to have her victim impact statement
