Young man who raped his cousin was allowed to complete his internship before facing court

A young girl who was sexually abused by her older cousin has told the Central Criminal Court his actions will “hang over the family forever”.

The mother of the now 14-year-old victim read the statement to the court.

A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, one count of anal rape and one count of oral rape, between April 28, 2017 and March 27, 2018.

The defendant cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the victim, who is his cousin. She was between eight and nine years old at the time of the crime, while he was around 13 years old at the time.

The girl said she viewed the man as a “big brother” who “did everything with us.” Looking back now, she said, “All I see is a monster.”

A local garda told Carol Doherty BL, prosecuting, that the investigation began after Tusla made a referral to gardaí.

The crime took place at the boy’s home and his grandparents’ home in County Dublin. It came to light in 2021 after the girl told her father she didn’t want the teenager to go on a family holiday with them: “I don’t want him to do to me what he did before.”

She was interviewed by a gardaí specialist and said the first incident occurred at the boy’s home, where he raped her during a sleepover.

He also raped her at her grandparents’ house.

The man was voluntarily interviewed at his local Garda station in June 2022 and made full admissions. He told gardaí that he felt “disgusted and shocked and hated himself” for his actions.

It was accepted that the defendant told gardaí he watched a lot of pornography online.

Ms Brennan said her client was extremely remorseful for his actions and the harm caused to the victim and the wider family.

Your client suffered from depression and was diagnosed with ADHD.

Judge Paul McDermott said the court would take into account that the man was a young teenager at the time of the offenses, adding that if the man had committed these offenses as an adult he would “go straight to prison”.

Mr Justice McDermott remanded the man on bail and adjourned the case until July 1 so that the Probation Service could carry out a risk assessment and allow the man to complete his college placement.