Man raped vulnerable teenager when she came to him looking for advice

By Fiona Ferguson

A 50-year old man who raped a vulnerable 16 year old girl who had come to him seeking advice has been jailed for ten years.

The Central Criminal Court heard that Robert Fennell, now aged 56, gave the girl alcohol before she woke up in his home to find him raping her.

Fennell, of Woodview Cottages, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty to rape of the child at his home, on June 11, 2018. He has 28 previous convictions, mainly for road traffic offences.

Passing sentence yesterday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Fennell, then a 50-year-old man, had undoubtedly taken advantage of the naivety and vulnerability of a 16-year-old girl.

He said he had known she was vulnerable and had betrayed the trust he had built up with her.

He noted the plea of guilty in this case, which was valuable, but said it had been entered at a late stage, leaving the complainant in a situation where she had to prepare for the case on several occasions and then face the overwhelming disappointment of trials not getting on.

He said this was an aspect of the Central Criminal Court list of which he was acutely aware and said it was very important that trials get on and disclosure is completed in a timely fashion.

He said the problem with lates pleas was that victims have to prepare for the case on repeated occasions.

He said there was an undoubted benefit to the plea but nevertheless there is an identifiable corrosive difficulty for complainants where case like this dominate their lives until they are addressed.

Mr Justice McDermot set a headline sentence of 12 years, and taking into account mitigation he reduced it to 11 years’ imprisonment.

He suspended the last year for two years on strict conditions including that Fennell undertake assessment for offence-focused work, addiction treatment and drug monitoring.

He also ordered that he have no unsupervised access to children.

Detective Garda Gavin Cooke told Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, that the young woman had been having difficulties in her personal life.

While speaking to a person she believed to be a 17-year-old boy through social media, he told her he knew a man who could help her with her problems.

The “boy” gave her Fennell’s contact details and she contacted him.

He allayed any suspicions she had on learning he was a 50-year old man by telling her he had a daughter and girlfriend around her age.

They arranged to meet and on the first occasion nothing untoward happened.

The second time they met he gave her five to six cans of Bulmers.

The girl fell asleep and woke up to find Fennell having sex with her.

She was afraid and pretended to remain asleep.

Earlier in the evening Fennell had been talking about killing or murdering people and for this reason she decided to remain quiet.

When he left, she made her way out of the house.

Gardai were alerted and the accused man was interviewed.

He initially claimed it was a “set up.”

He said he could not remember having sex with the girl and blamed drink or drugs.

Fennell consistently denied being the person who had made initial social media contact with the girl, insisting this person existed but gardai were unable to track him down.

The girl described in her victim impact statement how she had moved as she had been so terrified by what occurred.

She outlined how it still affects her life and she hopes to attend counselling.

John Byrne SC, defending, said his client wished to offer a full apology, was deeply ashamed of what he has done and was conscious of the effect of the offence on the injured party.

He said Fennell had suffered tragedy in his life, with the loss of an infant daughter in a fire, and worked at menial jobs since leaving school.

He has not received treatment for his alcohol and mental health issues.

He said his client has suffered from depression.

Counsel said Fennell was willing to use his time in custody to deal with his “demons” and willing to engage with whatever services are available to him in prison.