Man jailed for sexually assaulting nine-year-old girl

This article contains references to sexual assault involving a minor. Reader discretion is advised.

By Sonya McLean

A man who sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl while he was staying in her home as a house guest has been jailed.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the now 14-year-old girl, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of sexual assault of the girl on dates between August 2020 and January 2021.

Detective Garda Cian Daly told Jane McCudden BL, prosecuting, that the man was aged 32 at the time and had been invited to stay at the house by the victim’s father who was a friend of his.

In June 2021, the girl reported incidences of the man having come into her room at night and touching her vagina outside her underwear. During one of these occasions, she was sharing a bed with her three-year-old sister at the time.

She said she tried to push the man away but he was too heavy so she moved to her sister’s side of the bed which caused the younger girl to cry and the incident came to an end.

The girl later told specialist gardaí that the man sexually assaulted her in the same way on other occasions.

She first told her mother in January 2021. Her mother immediately told her father who confronted the man.

He recorded the man’s admissions on his phone and the family later brought the man to the garda station where he again repeated the admissions.

The teenager read from a victim impact statement that since the abuse “everything feels different but not in a good way”.

She said she is always anxious. She said she hopes to move on but the man will have to live with what he was done – “an unforgivable act” to a child of nine years old.

John Berry SC, defending, said his client acknowledged his guilt when he was first confronted by the child’s father and then later when interviewed by gardaí.

Counsel commended the teenager for her courage in delivering her victim impact statement and said he hoped the man’s immediate admissions gave her some comfort.

Mr Berry said his client suffers from feelings of inadequacy and very low self-esteem.

Judge Martin Nolan said it was a very frightening experience for the young girl and said the man had breached a trust of his friend who had allowed him to stay in his house.

“He abused their trust and hospitality,” Judge Nolan said, adding that this was an aggravating feature in the case.

He acknowledged the man’s expression of remorse before he jailed him for three years and three months.

Judge Nolan thanked the victim and her parents for coming to court.