The father of a young girl who was raped by her cousin has criticised the “chronic lack” of Government funding for a charity that supports victims of child sexual abuse.
The girl’s father was speaking at the sentencing of his nephew (16) who admitted sexually assaulting and raping his cousin on dates between December 2017 and May 2019 when she was aged between eight and nine and he was aged between 13 and 14.
Lawyers for the accused told the Central Criminal Court that a Probation Service assessment identified that the boy’s pathway to offending was the viewing of adult pornography on his mobile phone at an early age.
Brendan Grehan SC said there is “an epidemic in it’s own right of young boys accessing pornography and then acting it out in inappropriate ways”.
The abuse emerged in May 2019 when the victim became upset one day and told her mother that her cousin had touched her. Gardaí were called in and child specialist interviewers spoke to the girl.
Videos
When the boy’s parents asked him about the allegations he admitted he had shown her videos of adult pornography and he became upset and made to try to stab himself in the stomach. He was crying and kept telling his parents: ‘I’m guilty, I’m a paedophile and the guards should just lock me up’, the court heard.
The girl told gardaí that the boy would force her to engage in sexual acts with him and said she did not like it and “it wasn’t nice”.
She said sometimes the boy would get cross if she said she did not want to do things and he would tell her “you have to, there’s no way of getting out of it”. She said she just wanted to be his friend but sometimes he would be very strict and “horrible” towards her.
“I’m really angry at him but I still love him,” she said to gardaí of her cousin.
The boy pleaded guilty to raping the girl at his home in Co Dublin and to sexual assault at her home in another county. He also pleaded guilty to causing a child to watch sexual activity.
In his victim impact report, the girl’s father said he wished to thank gardaí and the CARI foundation for their support and help. He said because of the “chronic lack of Government funding” CARI has a long waiting list and it was 15 months before his daughter could get an appointment.
He said it is “a sorry reflection of modern Ireland” that the Government cannot give more support to such organisations.
Unspeakable
The man said that in May 2019 he learned that “an evil monster” had groomed his little girl and made her perform unspeakable and vile acts against her will.
He said he and his wife now realised the reason for the erosion they had already observed in their daughter’s sense of fun and confidence.
He said during a medical examination at a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit his daughter trembled with fear and she has suffered “blind panic attacks filled with terror”.
Mr Grehan, defending, read a letter written by the boy to his cousin in which he apologised repeatedly for his actions and the resultant harm.
“I can’t put into words how much I feel ashamed. I really messed up. Every night I pray this is all a dream. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how much pain this would cause,” the teenager said.
“I should never have looked at those videos online. I’m miserable, not because I got caught, I deserve that, but because I have caused so much hurt.”
In a letter, his mother said she stills get angry at him for what he did and the hurt and heartbreak he has caused but she is not going to abandon her son.
Mr Justice Michael White said he needed time to consider the evidence and various professional reports handed into court. He adjourned sentencing to February 23rd.