A WOMAN who was repeatedly raped by her uncle when she was a little girl has called on the State to electronically tag him and other known sex offenders order to protect children.
Sonya Stokes told a demonstration held at City Hall this past Thursday (March 13) that her paedophile uncle, Joseph Hogan, and all other convicted sex offenders, should be housed on “Spike Island”, a former island prison located off the Cork coast, to prevent them harming other victims.
Hogan (71), formerly of Rose Court, Keyes Park, returned to Stokes’ native Treaty City after he was freed from prison in recent weeks, after serving a 10-year sentence for raping her over a four-year period from 1984-1988.
Ms Stokes, who currently lives in Portaloise, said she returns to Limerick three days-a-week to provide support to other victims of sexual abuse.
Seeing or bumping into Hogan in the street in their home city fills her with dread and “more trauma”, Ms Stokes explained.
Calling on law makers to make it a crime for convicted sex offenders to live or work in the same city, town, village, or area as where their victims reside or work, Ms Stokes said: “I should feel safe in my hometown, and I don’t want to be booking into a hotel and meet him in a lift while I’m in there, because I can’t say what my reaction would be.”
“I, as the victim, should not be put in that position and I should not have to fight this fight.”
Ms Stokes said that, after his release from jail, Hogan was initially residing at a Limerick hotel where “vulnerable women and children” were staying.
She said Hogan vacated the hotel after she informed the premises about his horrific child sex crimes.
“I spoke with the manager, who was flabbergasted. He (Hogan) was booked into the hotel under a different name. It’s just not acceptable, it’s just not good enough,” said Ms Stokes.
There are a number of convicted sex offenders, including several convicted paedophiles, living in Limerick City, however Ireland, unlike other countries, does not have a publicly accessible sex offenders register.
In 2015, Hogan was jailed after a jury at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty of raping Ms Stokes when she was a child.
“This is very important to me and other victims. My happiest days were when he was locked up, and now he is out and living in Limerick and I am not even sleeping,” Ms Stokes said.
“He is entitled, as a human, to live somewhere, but he should not have his freedom in our hometown, he should not have rights to live in the same town where he offended.”
To prevent paedophiles going underground if outed, Ms Stokes said: “Put them in an institution, open up the likes of Spike Island and put them there, they shouldn’t be around a school or a creche.”
Calling for a change in the law, Ms Stokes added: “Enough is enough, what is happening is wrong, it is just wrong.”
