Two jailed for ‘cynical and calculated’ rape of girl (14)

Two Limerick men have been sentenced to 12 years in prison, with one year suspended, for what a judge described as the “cynical and calculated” rape of a 14-year-old girl.

The men, aged 27 and 26, both deny raping the teenager when she was “comatose” with alcohol on the night of April 22nd, 2017.

The men, who cannot be named in order to protect the statutory anonymity of the complainant, were convicted following trial at the Central Criminal Court last November.

Passing sentence on Monday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said the men had taken the girl to an isolated area, given her more alcohol and raped her in succession, “robbing her of her innocence” in “extremely degrading and humiliating” circumstances.

She said it was a “cynical, calculated and egregious” crime and that the men had “taken advantage of a young and vulnerable child” when she was “comatose” with alcohol.

Ms Justice Creedon said there was very little by way of mitigation for the two accused given that they completely denied and continued to deny the offences. The judge said this left the complainant without any acknowledgement of the hurt and harm caused to her.

Probation reports said the men had no victim empathy and were at moderate risk of both sexual and non-sexual violent reoffending.

The court heard that both men considered themselves to be victims in the case and had told gardaí they believed the girl was aged 16 at the time.

The 27-year-old defendant, who was 22 at the time, was convicted on the single count of rape. His 26-year-old co-accused, who was 21 at the time, was convicted of rape and an additional charge of sexual assault. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual assault charge, to run concurrently.

Victim-impact statement

In her victim-impact statement, the girl said she had left her home on the night of the rapes “a bubbly, fun-loving, outgoing kid” and came home “a frightened, confused, guilt-ridden victim”.

She said rumours had spread in the locality and she became marked as “the girl who was raped” and that some people said “vulgar things” about her.

She said she and her family decided to leave the area, and uproot their lives, to get away from this.

Lawyers for both men told the court that their clients did not accept the jury verdicts and continue to protest their innocence.

Counsel for the younger defendant said his client felt hard done by and wronged by the conviction. He said his client was a young man who has started a family since these events and has held down a job.

Counsel for the now 27-year-old asked the court to consider that he was still a relatively a young man and had no other relevant criminal convictions.

Ms Justice Creedon suspended the final year of the sentence and ordered both accused to abide by the supervision of the probation services and to attend offence-focused work and additional support services as directed.