PLUS: DÓNAL ÓG QUITS OVER HUMPHRIES LETTER
Judge is criticised after expressing ‘sympathy’ for convicted paedophile
‘Very light for the crime committed ‘Higher the profile, the greater the fall’
SEX predator Tom Humphries got off ‘very lightly’ with a mere two-and-a-half year jail sentence for preying on a ‘vulnerable’ young girl, campaign groups said last night.
The 54-year-old former sports writer will be out of prison in 2019 because of the ‘high profile and success’ that he has lost, a judge ruled yesterday.
Humphries, of Corr Castle, Sutton, north Dublin, had pleaded guilty to four counts of inviting a child to participate in a sexually explicit, obscene or indecent act between January 2010 and March 2011, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of defilement of the child at a place in Dublin between December 5, 2010 and February 19, 2011.
These took place when the victim was aged around 16 and Humphries was 47.
The sentence followed on from comments by the judge, Karen O’Connor, who said of Humphries: ‘It would be difficult not to have some sympathy for him.’
Having been in custody for the past three weeks at his own request, Humphries was back before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to be sentenced.
His light sentence means that he will spend less than two years behind bars. With remission and backdating of his sentence to October 3 last – when he voluntarily went into custody – he will be out of jail as soon as June 2019.
Judge O’Connor also spared him any post-release supervision - even though many sex offenders are monitored closely by the Probation Service for a fixed period after their release.
Last night, expert campaigners said the sentence appeared to be ‘very light’, with too much emphasis placed on the offender’s plight.
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief executive Noeline Blackwell told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘It certainly appears lenient and very light for the crime that he committed.
‘The important elements in her [the judge’s] sentencing were the harm that the crimes did to the criminal, rather than the harm the crimes did to the victim. We are surprised and disappointed.
‘Post-release supervision is about safety in the community and she is taking a view that he won’t be a threat. Why did the judge come to those conclusions?’
Ms Blackwell said it would be ‘far better’ if Irish judges were given stricter sentencing guidelines to follow, as in the UK and the US.
Despite hearing details of the devastating effect of the crimes on his young victim yesterday, Judge O’Connor reasoned that it would be difficult not to have ‘sympathy’ for a ‘clearly remorseful’ Humphries, who ‘has lost his reputation, his livelihood and most of his friends’.
Even though he could have spared his victim further heartache by pleading guilty at an earlier stage, he had ‘expressed that remorse by pleading guilty’, the judge said.
By pleading guilty in March, he had ‘saved [his victim] the ordeal of a criminal trial’, she found.
Judge O’Connor said Humphries had been going through a ‘very difficult time in his life’ when he committed the crimes, ‘both in terms of his health and his mental health.’ She noted that the breakdown of his marriage ‘was difficult and painful for his entire family.’
The judge also sympathised with the ‘stress’ brought on Humphries and his family by the media attention that his case had attracted.
Also taking into account character references from two of his ‘friends’, who were not named in court, the judge said: ‘I have observed Mr Humphries in court. It would be difficult not to have some sympathy for him.
‘I say that in relation to his current station. The higher the profile and success of a member of our society, the greater the fall.’
It also worked in Humphries’ favour that he has no previous convictions, had not come to further adverse garda attention and had been ‘living a reclusive lifestyle’, the judge explained.
However, she said the impact of the crime on the victim was the ‘most important aggravating feature’ for the court to consider. The victim was a schoolgirl compared to Humphries, ‘an eminent, highly respected sports journalist’.
Humphries, a man 31 years her senior, had ‘cultivated’ contact with the girl and manipulated her against her will. When he was contacting her, he ‘was aware of a certain vulnerability on her part and that she had an eating disorder’.
‘I’m not of the view she allowed herself to be manipulated. I’m of the view that she was manipulated,’ the judge concluded.
The court heard he made contact with the girl through his volunteer work with junior GAA teams and that over three months, he exchanged at least 16,000 text messages back and forth with her as part of the grooming. The girl told gardaí she did not know how he had got her number but presumed that it was through her GAA club.
For months, the texts consisted of conversation about life and school. But in 2009, he sent her two graphic images. When she was 16, he brought her to his apartment, where sex acts were performed.
Judge O’Connor ruled that the sports writer ‘was aware of his wrongdoing’ – despite a doctor’s report, which suggested that a ‘neurocognitive disorder’ may have impaired his judgment at the time of his offences.
His victim was a ‘promising and talented’ camogie player, who ‘lost much of her childhood and lost much of her innocence at a crucial time in her life. She continues to suffer but she is a determined and strong person,’ the judge said.
Being classed as a victim had led to a ‘sense of self-hatred’ and she had missed out on experiences that any person of her age should have been able to enjoy.
She faced a ‘constant battle’ against flashbacks and a ‘sense of depression’ and had been ‘suicidal on occasion,’ the court heard.
Looking impassive throughout, Humphries sat in the glass-panelled dock, his hand covering his chin and his mouth.
Seconds before the judge gave her ruling, Humphries’ lawyers said he wanted to ‘restate his deep shame and remorse, both to [his victim] and her family’.
Humphries had voluntarily gone into custody the last time he had been brought before the courts on October 3. He was brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice from the Midlands Prison for a 10.30am sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
After a number of delays, Humphries was eventually brought up from the basement cells at 12.40pm for a hearing that lasted 20 minutes.
Outside the courtroom afterwards, the young woman, who has never been named, hugged gardaí before hastily leaving with her family.
The family group declined to comment to reporters. Humphries was taken to Mountjoy Prison following the hearing.
Judge O’Connor imposed a twoand-a-half year sentence for defilement and a further two-year sentence for exploitation.
However, the sentences will run concurrently - meaning that Humphries will be released no later than August 2019.
If he is granted ‘enhanced’ remission, he will spend only one year and eight months behind bars meaning that he could be released as soon as June 2019.
Humphries’ counsel, Hugh Hartnett SC, indicated to the court that Humphries could yet appeal against the sentence.
The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland’s helpline is 1800 77 88 88. Comment – Page 12 paul.caffrey@dailymail.ie