Two boys who raped a teenage girl in a car at Limerick Racecourse when they were aged just 13 and 15 years old have each been sentenced to six years in detention.
A third defendant (now 18) who was found guilty of aiding and abetting the rapes by moving the car in which it occurred was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
The daytime attack against the girl involved humiliation and degradation and was committed by offenders of a very young age, the Central Criminal Court heard. The teenage rapists and their families do not accept the verdicts of the jury and there was a heavy garda presence in court for sentencing on Thursday.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that had the boys – who are all cousins – been adults at the time of the offending, the headline sentence for the rape offences would have been in the range of 15 years to life imprisonment.
“This was a 16-year-old intoxicated girl in a vulnerable situation subjected to rape and sexual assault,” he said. “She was raped one after the other by (the two boys) and in the course of these rapes, she was sexually assaulted.”
The girl was repeatedly saying no during the assaults. Further indignity and humiliation was heaped upon her by video footage being taken of the incident, the judge said.
Handing down sentence, Mr Justice McDermott noted there was very little to be said in mitigation for the boys, as they have not expressed remorse or any understanding of the harm caused to the complainant. They must be sentenced as juveniles under the Children Act, in which detention is a last resort, the court heard.
The judge accepted the third defendant, who aided and abetted the rapes, has taken some responsibility for his involvement but struggles to understand it.
He noted they have no previous convictions and have been subject to some childhood trauma, with mental health difficulties in their families. They had a lack of understanding in the areas of sexual relations and consent, the court heard.
Mr Justice McDermott sentenced the two rapists to a sentence of seven-and-a-half years of detention, with the final 18 months suspended on a number of conditions, including that they engage in sexual offending programmes and have no contact whatsoever with the complainant. The judge noted this means that part of their sentence will be served in prison.
He sentenced the third defendant to five years in jail as he is now over the age of 18 years. He suspended the final 18 months of this sentence on the same conditions.
The three boys stood trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork earlier this year, with two of the boys (now aged 16 and 17) found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping the then 16-year-old girl in a car at the racecourse on December 26, 2022. They were 13 and 15 years old at the time.
The third boy (now 18) was found guilty by the jury of four counts of aiding and abetting the rapes and sexual assaults following the six-week trial. The court heard he moved the car during the course of the attack. He was aged 15 at the time. He was acquitted of one count of false imprisonment.
Video clips were taken of the incident by one of the boys, including one clip of the girl walking away from the car after she had been raped. When she found her friends, she was extremely upset and immediately told them what had happened to her, the court heard.
The boys denied raping the girl, telling gardaí differing versions of events including one who said he was in Dublin on the day in question. They all eventually claimed it was a consensual encounter.
Detective Garda Lisa O’Regan told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl was socialising with her friends at the racecourse on the day in question. She was, in her own words, “really drunk” when she got chatting to the three boys, Mr Kelly said.
The court heard she agreed to go for a walk with one of the boys because she wanted to kiss him. Instead, she found herself in a car belonging to one of the boy’s fathers where she was sexually assaulted and raped by two of them. The third boy moved the car at one point during the attack.
The girl said she told the boys “No” repeatedly and that she was on her period and had a tampon in. She said she told them she needed to go back to her friends, but they repeatedly said no and that she was “fine”.
When medically examined later that evening, she was found to have extensive bleeding and bruising. She was a virgin prior to the attack.
The complainant (now aged 18) was not in court for the sentence hearing in Dublin. In a victim impact statement read out on her behalf by counsel, she described her fear and anxiety in the aftermath of the attack, during which she was “begging them to get off me”.
“At the age of 16, I had my innocence stripped away from me,” she said. “These two (boys) took what they wanted with no regrets.” She said her parents had to hear every “vulgar” and “gruesome” detail of what happened to her and that she will “forever have guilt on my shoulders – not just for how it affected me, but everyone around me”.
“They not only took away the rest of my childhood, they took away the rest of my life,” she said. “At the age of 16, I was raped. This is always something I will have to carry around. But what I can do is live with the fact that I told the truth.”
The court heard the boys, who are all cousins, have no previous convictions. They are all in detention or custody since the guilty verdicts were handed down last April.
The case was previously adjourned for a number of weeks for preparation of probation reports.
Cathal McGreal, BL, defending the youngest of the three boys, said his client was then aged 13 and had no previous convictions. He said that a report before the court described him as mild-mannered, introverted and vulnerable from a mental health point of view.
Counsel said his client made admissions and described him as “not a particularly mature 13-year-old, and this was his first sexual experience”. The court heard that the boy’s father and his family do not accept the verdict.
Mr McGreal said his client wants to pursue his Junior Certificate and is interested in becoming a mechanic or a builder. He is against drugs and alcohol and wants to marry his girlfriend.
Vincent Heneghan SC, defending the then 15-year-old boy, said his client comes from a “good supportive family” and they are concerned for him. He stated that his client does not accept the jury’s verdict and that this will limit any potential mitigation.
Counsel said his client presents as intermittently distressed since going into custody and is not sleeping well. He said he is engaging in education and sport while in Oberstown.
Mr Henaghan said the defendant has no issues with drugs or alcohol and outlined that there was no pre-planning to this offending. He asked the court to consider the reports that were before the court on behalf of his client and requested that the court be as lenient as possible.
Donal Cronin BL, defending the third boy, said his sexual knowledge at the time was limited. He outlined that his client has no issues with drink or drugs and that sport has formed a major part of his life.
Mr Cronin asked the court to fashion a sentence that would mark the wrongdoing but also include rehabilitation. He asked the court to consider the mitigating factors, including his client’s culpability, his involvement and the fact he was a child at the time.
