“Six-year-old me deserves justice,” says Cork girl sexually abused by her older cousin

The girl, now 16, read out her victim’s influence evidence during a sentencing hearing for her older cousin at the Central Criminal Court on Friday.

The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to three counts of oral rape, two counts of anal rape and five counts of sexual assault at locations in County Cork. In order to protect the anonymity of his victim, his name cannot be mentioned.

The Central Criminal Court assumed that the abuse took place between 2014 and 2018, when the girl was between six and ten years old.

The girl described in her victim’s impact evidence that she suffered nightmares, feelings of anger and pain, and froze in fear whenever she saw a man who resembled the defendant. She said the man “traumatized” her and “my body no longer felt like my own.”

The girl said she often wondered whether she had made the right choice at 11 when gardaí came into play. However, she knows, “If I had to do it again, I would,” although she said she would take better care of herself. “This trial had to happen because I deserve justice, and my six-year-old self deserves justice.”

The girl said: “The defendant ruined my life before it even started,” adding that he was her cousin and knew she was only six, but he continued.

A local officer told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl disclosed some of the abuse in 2019 and was interviewed by a gardaí specialist. At this time, she made no allegations of anal or oral rape.

She said the first incident occurred in the boy’s bedroom when she was about six and he was 14. He touched her genital area outside of her clothing and made her touch his private parts. She described several similar incidents, including one in which the teen made her sit on his lap.

The incidents occurred both at his home and at the victim’s home, where the teen occasionally babysat his cousin while her mother ran errands. She estimated that sexual assaults occurred up to three times a week, for a total of about 50 times.

‘Reluctantly’

The man was voluntarily interviewed by gardaí in December 2019 and admitted the sexual assaults. He said he was “reluctant” to stop and didn’t think the girl would tell anyone. He told gardaí he did not believe it was about sexual attraction, adding that he had taken advantage of the girl.

The court heard the girl disclosed the anal and oral rapes to Tusla in late 2020. She later told specialist gardaí that the teenager had locked his bedroom door before this abuse occurred.

The girl said she was seven or eight years old when this type of abuse began and it happened several times until it ended when she was nine or ten. The man was interviewed again by gardaí and admitted this abuse.

He said there were about seven cases of anal rape in six months. He admitted locking the door to his bedroom and also admitted raping the girl multiple times.

The court heard the man has no previous convictions and no recent convictions. He has been diagnosed with Asperger’s and is currently completing training. Probation and psychological reports were presented to the court.

The defense said her client accepted full responsibility for his offending and admitted to a probation officer that he had taken advantage of a vulnerable child. She said the man was ashamed, regretted his actions and apologized.

pornography

The lawyer explained to the court that the man began watching pornography at the age of 11 and after consuming “large amounts” at a young age, he then developed a “distorted view of sexuality”, while his cousin ” had the misfortune of falling into his sexuality “away at this point”.

The man’s mother was in court. Although she supports him, she is “ashamed” and has difficulty accepting his actions, the lawyer said. Because of his behavior, he was shunned by much of his family, including his grandparents.

The lawyer asked the court to take into account that most of the crimes appeared to have occurred when the man was still a minor and called for maximum leniency for her client.

Judge Mary-Ellen Ring adjourned the case to October 29 for a final decision at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork.

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