A LIMERICK mother has criticised the judicial system after a man who inappropriately touched and then tried to groom her young daughter for his sexual gratification has been given a 10 month prison sentence with the last six months suspended. “No wonder there are so many sex offenders walking around” said the mother of a 14-year-old girl who added, “This is not justice, I can’t understand this system”.
39-year-old Owen O’Donoghue was before Limerick district court charged with sexually assaulting a young girl who was described as being best friends with one of his children.
As the court heard evidence from the girl and her mother, Judge Eugene O’Kelly said it was a “deadful breach of trust”.
Owen O’Donoghue fondled and kissed the girl at his home in Fairgreen, Garryowen on June 10, 2011 while the girl’s friend had briefly left the house.
The young girl’s mother described how her daughter still has nightmares and suffered flashbacks. She added that her daughter had since lost all her friends over the incident.
“The nightmares are unreal, She says she can still hear him breathing down her neck. How could a man do this to a child? She trusted him. She has known him since she was a baby”, the woman said.
Explicit messages were posted to the young girl’s facebook page by the accused. Her sister saw them and said that the young girl didn’t even understand their content.
Det. Garda Dympna Bourke, said that the messages were sent with a view to grooming the young girl but it didn’t go any further as the victim’s sister saw them.
Judge O’Kelly said that the young teenage victim was a “fine young lady” and he was “very impressed by her resilience”.
Noting that she wished to pursue certain studies, Judge O’Kelly said that the case could be met in several ways. When the suggestion of compensation was made, he said that “compensation will not buy off a prison sentence”.
The victim refused the compensation stating that she “did not want his money”.
When defending solicitor Chris Lynch said his client was at a loss to explain his loss of control, Judge O’Kelly countered that “It seemed more than a momentary lapse. It only came to light when the sister noticed the content on facebook. The content was extremely graphic and so explicit that the girl wasn’t able to understand some of it. That puts it in a more serious scale.
“Gardai believed that Mr O’Donoghue was grooming this young girl”.
Mr Lynch said that his client was unemployed as he had refused work in light of this pending court case but he was “very highly thought of in the bar trade”.
He had no previous convictions and by pleading guilty he “had not forced the girl to give evidence”.
After the offer of compensation was rejected by the young girl, Judge O’Kelly imposed a ten month prison sentence and suspended the last six months for two years. He added that a portion of a “suspended sentence would go towards meeting this matter”.
The young girl waived her right to anonymity and therefore the judge ordered that the defendant’s name could be published.
After a notice to appeal the sentence was lodged, the victim’s mother said; “This is not justice – no wonder there are so many sex offenders walking around”.
