The Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence imposed on an anonymised man who admitted sexual offending against two teenage girls after meeting them through social media and supplying them with drugs.
A.V. had pleaded guilty to four counts involving two complainants. They included defilement of a child under 15, defilement of a child under 17 and two offences of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Complainant A was 14 when she met A.V. through a friend who had encountered him on Instagram. The court recorded that A.V. knew her age. She was brought to his apartment on a number of occasions and supplied with drugs including ecstasy, cocaine, hash and tablets before sexual activity took place. On one occasion she had made clear that she did not want sex.
Complainant B was 16. Within 24 hours of making contact online, A.V. went to her home and brought her to his apartment without her parents' knowledge. She remained there for several days while her whereabouts were unknown to them. The judgment records drug-taking and sexual activity during that period, and that A.V. tattooed her. Gardaí eventually found her during a search of his residence.
The sentencing judge treated the offending as mid to upper range and selected a 14-year headline sentence. After mitigation, including guilty pleas, cooperation, remorse and evidence about A.V.'s difficult upbringing, a 12-year sentence was imposed with the final three years suspended.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the offending was very serious and that the aggravating factors had largely been correctly identified. However, it held that the 14-year starting point overstated the gravity of the case and amounted to an error in principle.
The court substituted an 11-year headline sentence, reduced it to nine years for mitigation and suspended the final two years on the same terms as before. A.V. remains subject to the sex offender register for life.