A 42-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to raping a teenage boy in Dublin in 1994.
The accused, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, has 28 previous convictions, including one at the Old Bailey in London for kidnapping a male under the age of 14.
Despite his guilty plea at Dublin Circuit Court, during the proceedings the accused disputed the claim there was violence used, insisting he talked his victim into it.
The man was sentenced to seven years in prison for the abuse and sexual assault of the then 13-year-old, with a further five years to be served under supervision.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
Detective Garda Gabriel Duffy told counsel Patrick McGrath that the man, then 19, befriended the teenager after moving into a house in Dublin where the boy lived with his mother.
Between June and September 1994, he sexually molested the boy on one occasion before going on to rape him on two further occasions.
After the first assault, he gave his victim money and warned him not to tell anyone.
During the third attack, the court was told the accused punched his victim when the youngster protested, before continuing to punch him during the rape.
Upon hearing this evidence, the accused shouted: “I talked him into it, there was no violence used.”
The man also threatened to tell the boy’s mother he smoked hash if he told of the abuse.
The victim said the abuse had haunted him throughout his life and prevented him being a father figure to his own children.
The accused's lawyer, Sean Gillane SC, said that his client had been effectively homeless since he was a teenager and had suffered from chronic alcoholism.
In sentencing, Justice Patrick McCarthy took into account the man’s guilty plea and genuine remorse.
The judge also expressed sadness at the fact the accused himself had been abused as a child and later resorted to working as a prostitute.
