A 15-year-old boy was tortured with a cigarette lighter, told he would be raped with a sweeping brush and would have his ear cut off during a two-hour ordeal, a court heard yesterday.
The assault was carried out by two other 15-year-olds, one of whom was a friend, who had brought him to the flat of Ms Suzanne Murphy (32) at Ardbhaile, Mayfield, in Cork.
Yesterday both accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting the boy, causing him actual bodily harm at Ardbhaile on June 18th, 1996.
Garda Peter Murphy told the court that the youths brought their friend to Ms Murphy's house where one of them, the main culprit, accused him of calling his sister a slut and of abusing his (the victim's) baby sister. They began kicking the boy in the face and head and Ms Murphy joined in until he agreed he had molested his baby sister and they stopped.
The ringleader then held the flame of a cigarette lighter to the boy's ear and burned it. He also burnt his legs and arms with the metal part of the lighter. He later told the boy to stick out his tongue and he burnt it with a cigarette, the court heard.
The ringleader "was "like a man possessed", then produced a marker and wrote "queer" on the boy's forehead and "faggot" on one leg and "bent" on the other leg, the court heard.
He also got a sweeping brush and threatened to rape the boy with it, but the boy started crying and begged him not to.
Both Ms Murphy and the other youth were crying as the ringleader ordered the boy to lie down and open his legs while he kicked him several times in the genitals. Ms Murphy cleaned blood off the walls before the two youths took the boy to a nearby school.
The court had earlier heard that the boy had suffered bruising to the face and burns to his head and body. He suffered from nightmares but was receiving counselling and was recovering, Garda Peter Murphy told the court.
The ringleader's mother said she was shocked when she heard what had happened as her son and the victim had been friends. She was separated from the boy's father and since they moved into the area, her son had become uncontrollable.
She had been the only constant in her son's life but she was now terminally ill, the mother told the court, adding that they had now moved to Co Waterford but her son was doing well attending school in Cork.
The ringleader said he was not sure why he had behaved in such a way, He added: "I want to apologise but whatever I say probably won't do any good. It's not going to change what happened."
Judge A.G. Murphy said the two accused had behaved like "savage animals" in the torture of their friend. "The victim in this case has been scarred for life . . . by these two bowsies," he said.
After hearing evidence from the probation services, Judge Murphy ordered both to be put in probation hostels as part of the Intensive Probation Service. They would have to report daily to a Garda station and observe a 10 p.m. curfew. He adjourned the case until next May to obtain a report from the Probation Service but said he was not very hopeful for the two accused.