A Limerick sex offender has been jailed for three years after he made contact with underage children of an employee of an adult chat line. Glen Considine, aged 39, a registered sex offeder in the UK, with an address at the South Circular Road, and with previous convictions in Ireland, was before Judge Carroll Moran at Limerick Circuit Court after he was found to be in breach of a court order to engage, interact and be honest and truthful with the probation services as part of his rehabilitation.
The accused had pleaded guilty last December to the sexual assault of a west African man who had been sleeping rough in Lady’s Lane in Limerick.
The 23-year-old man stopped a garda patrol car after 5am on March 21, 2010, and notified them that he had been involved in a scuffle with the accused. The injured party claimed that Glen Considine sexually assaulted him.
When it was put to him by Gardai, Considine admitted that it was his intention to rape the man, “to be in control”.
He also said that he wanted to pay someone for a sexual experience, and that he did need help.
Previously, between dates in July 2007 and January 2008, the unemployed carpenter from Eden Court had been charged with harassing a 17-year-old girl, making over 100 nuisance calls and telling her that he would find and rape her.
In 2008, Considine’s house was searched after the girl made a complaint and traces of the calls led gardai to the accused.
Considine was added to the sex offenders list in the UK in 1999 after he was convicted on two counts of indecently assaulting two young teenage girls.
After pleading guilty to the nuisance calls, Considine told gardai that he was happy to be caught.
He admitted to calling a random number and never had any physical contact with the girl, who lived on the East coast.
However, at the time of pleading guilty to the assault of the West African, Considine was said to be engaging with the Lighthouse program for sexual deviants and his defence counsel, Mark Nicholas, sought an adjournment for the course to be completed.
Considine was back before the court when a probation officer said that he had been calling “adult party lines,” despite having engaged well with the a sexual offenders rehab program.
Considine made calls to the adult chat line and managed to make contact with a minor associated with an employee, and made one or two calls that were said to be of a sexual nature.
Mark Nicholas said that Considine had been moving in the right direction with rehab but that his client was living an isolated and lonely life. He conceded that Considine’s behaviour was highly questionable and it was right to have the matter re- entered.
He said he showed genuine remorse and offered an apology.
He said his client breached the “spirit of his engagement with the probation services,” but that he was doing well otherwise.
Judge Carroll Moran said that the matters that were returned before the court should carry consecutive sentences, and that in April 2010 Considine was considered to be a threat to the public.
The judge convicted and sentenced him to three years in prison for the harassment matter. He also convicted him of the assault of the West African man, and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspende for a period of four years, and bound him to the peace for four years on his own €100 bond.
Considine was also added to the sex offenders register for five years.
