For the first time since she was raped last year at the age of 13, the young victim had her say yesterday, reports Catherine Cleary.
The blank screens flickered in the courtroom, as the barristers, solicitors and family of the accused man negotiated his plea. Earlier he had pleaded not guilty, with a shake of his head to each of the three charges relating to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in August last year.
After some intense negotiation, the jury was brought into court and he stood to change his plea to guilty. The bemused men and women were dismissed, before being told by Mr Justice Quirke they were entitled to lunch at the State's expense for their trouble.
Only then did the flickering screens switch to a small room with an empty blue chair and a brown curtain backdrop.
This video link, the only such link in an Irish courtroom, would be the medium through which the now 14-year-old rape victim would have her say.
Before the case, the girl's parents sat outside the courtroom. Her father wore a baseball cap. From her secure room, the girl would address the judge, whose face would appear on a television screen in front of her.
Everyone watched the empty chair in absolute silence. Then a blonde woman with glasses smiled as she settled herself in the chair and spoke to Mr Justice Quirke.
The judge relayed what had happened in court and said he wanted to tell the girl the news directly. The woman listened to his information and went to call the girl. With the empty chair on screen, the court could hear the woman calling her name.
Then the girl, wearing a bright sweatshirt, sat into the chair and stared downwards. "Hello . . . " Mr Justice Quirke said, calling her by name. "Hi," she said, without looking up at the camera.
The judge explained that the man who had raped her had pleaded guilty and she had been vindicated by that. "Yeah," she answered periodically as he asked her if she understood. "What you have alleged has been accepted," he explained. "Yeah," she said in a small voice. "There is no suggestion that you were anything other than wholly innocent," he said.
He told her she would be receiving help now and in the future to deal with what had happened. Then he asked if she had anything she wanted to say.
"I hope he gets locked up for life," she said in a louder voice, swinging the chair slightly from left to right, the childish movement reminding those watching just how young the girl was, but she kept looking down.
"Okay," she said, after the judge offered her another chance to say something. Then he wished her a better life than the one she had experienced so far.
"Bye," she said to the judge, and the screens went blank again.