Dublin man given suspended sentence for defiling 15-year-old

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A Dublin man was given a three-year suspended sentence for defilement at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 20 March 2024.

The man, aged 23, pleaded guilty to defiling a 15-year-old girl at his home in June 2019. He had initially denied the charge and pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial. He was 18 at the time of the offence, and the pair knew each other through the same friend group.

The girl read a victim impact statement at a sentencing hearing on 19 March 2024. She described self-harm, a decline in her school attendance and continuing distress.

On 20 March 2024, Judge Martin Nolan described the offence as serious but said the man did not deserve a custodial sentence because of his mitigation and young age at the time. The judge noted the impact on the girl and said the conviction and sex offender registration would be punishment.

Senior counsel Fiona Murphy, defending, said her client was genuinely remorseful. She said a probation report indicated that he had no intention of causing harm but fully accepted that he had caused harm; it also found him at the lower end of the risk of reoffending.