‘A very significant animal cruelty case’: Limerick farmer faces 173 charges over dead calves<\/a><\/p>\nJudge Daly, in delivering his sentence, outlined the facts of the case which were heard on an earlier date.<\/p>\n
He said the sexual assault occurred in a public location in County Limerick on a date in 2022 where there were some 10 juveniles in attendance. The judge said both the victim and defendant were aged 14 at the time and are now both 18.<\/p>\n
The court heard that the young girl was sitting on the defendant’s lap when he put his hands down her pants, pulled her underwear while shouting to the others he had her by the thong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went on to put his hand further down her pants and digitally penetrated her anus,\u201d said Judge Daly, who added that the accused \u201cboasted about it in a derogatory way\u201d to the other teenagers present.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was naturally shocked and very upset. She managed to get away from him with the assistance of another person. A complaint was made by her and her mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was taken to a sexual assault unit for forensic examination. She had a small anal fissure and one centimetre abrasion on her bottom,\u201d said Judge Daly.<\/p>\n
The judge said the victim impact statement by the now 18-year-old woman set out the long-lasting effect the sexual assault had on her mental health, how she finds it hard to trust people and how she struggled going on in school afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe action was clearly a very serious violation of another child. Even a child at 14 knows that pulling on the underwear of a 14-year-old girl is wrong and is something simply one does not do.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery child is taught from a very early age to respect the private parts of another child or any person and not to touch them. The accused clearly must have known his actions were wrong and yet he went ahead and did it anyway,\u201d said Judge Daly, who described the boasting and that it happened in a public place with so many observers as aggravating factors.<\/p>\n
The judge, in mitigation, took into account the defendant\u2019s age, lack of sexual education and awareness, his acknowledgement that what he did was wrong, and that it was \u201ca somewhat spontaneous action\u201d.<\/p>\n
Judge Daly, in determining his sentence, also considered the plea of guilty which avoided the victim and others present having to give evidence in a trial, his extreme remorse and that he hasn\u2019t come to garda attention since.<\/p>\n
The judge noted if the case had come before him sooner the accused could have faced detention as a juvenile compared to imprisonment as an adult.<\/p>\n
Judge Daly handed down a two-year prison sentence but deferred finalising the case for 12 months.<\/p>\n
He said if the defendant continues to engage with the Probation Services, doesn\u2019t come to garda attention and completes a number of courses, he will fully suspend the sentence. If he doesn\u2019t comply with the conditions or comes to garda attention he is looking at a custodial sentence, said the judge.<\/p>\n
Judge Daly said the accused remains under the threat of punishment to ensure he continues on a path of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will ensure no other girl or young woman will have to endure the indignity from an intimate assault that she endured,\u201d said the judge.<\/p>\n
The case was prosecuted by Lily Buckley BL, instructed by State solicitor Brendan Gill. The defendant was represented by Joseph McMahon BL.<\/p>\n
The accused was remanded on continuing bail until November 2026.<\/p>\n
If you have been affected by this story please contact the 24 Hour Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 778888 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"*** READER DISCRETION ADVISED *** A SEXUAL assault perpetrated by a 14-year-old Limerick boy – who then boasted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,2177,61,60,67397,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-163397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-county-limerick","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-limerick-circuit-court","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}