RAPE CRISIS Network Ireland director Fiona Neary yesterday strongly criticised a two-year sentence with 12 months suspended handed down to a 48-year-old man who plied a 15-year-old girl with drink before videotaping himself having sex with her.
Ms Neary said the sentence given to Anthony Nagle by Judge Patrick Moran at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday sent out the wrong message regarding child protection given Nagle had committed “very serious sexual offences against a child”.
Nagle, from Nicholas Square, Ballymacthomas, Cork, pleaded guilty possessing child pornography, producing child pornography and using a child for sexual exploitation.
The court heard that in late 2005 Nagle had promised the girl some DVDs and brought her back to his flat, where he plied her with 24 bottles of alcopops and gave her cannabis before video-taping himself having sex with her.
“His offences involved luring the child to his home on false pretences, it involved premeditatedly buying alcohol and plying the child with it and cannabis, it involved lying to the child’s mother about her location while he was in the act of sexually abusing her,” said Ms Neary.
“And it involved videotaping this abuse, it involved continuing the sexual exploitation over a period of hours and while the child was semi-conscious under the influence of the alcohol and drugs she has been plied with.”
Ms Neary said Nagle’s legal team’s attempt to paint the semi-conscious child as sexually provocative and Nagle as an unfortunate victim did little to suggest he was taking responsibility for his actions. She questioned the authenticity of his remorse.
“He may well have believed there would be little consequences for his actions. With the sentence handed down he was right on that count,” said Ms Neary in a statement released yesterday by the Rape Crisis Network.
“Messages on child protection, particularly for vulnerable teenagers, must be clear and unambiguous from the legislation through to sentencing. Government and judges are failing to deliver that child protection message.”
Ms Neary said the judge had not ordered any assessment of his risk to society or post-release treatment and this was a further failure in child protection.