Banteer man convicted of sexually assaulting sleeping girls
A 24-YEAR-OLD North Corkman who had once hoped to pursue a career in child care was last week jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two teenage girls in separate incidents.
Christopher Twohig of Banteer West, Banteer, pleaded guilty to one count of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and to a second count of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old girl three years later.
The first incident took place between August and October 2011 when Twohig was 18 or 19-years-old. It happened when he took advantage of a 15-year-old girl who was couch surfing in a house that he was visiting.
The girl woke up in the middle of the night on the couch to discover that Twohig had removed her top and her bra, and had begun fondling her breasts before then penetrating her vagina with his fingers.
The girl pretended to be asleep as she was afraid that Twohig would get angry if she woke up but eventually she pretended to wake up and Twohig stopped touching her and got up and left the house.
The girl told Cork Circuit Criminal Court in a victim impact statement that she blamed herself for years for allowing the sexual assault to happen but she was too young to understand what happened to her.
“Those 20 minutes made my life shatter because I almost disconnect myself from that 15-year-old girl. When I think back at what happened I can’t help but feel sorry for that 15-year-old. I put all the blame on myself and carried it with me for many years,” she said.
“I felt guilt and anger – guilt and anger because I had let this incident set me back in life. I struggled immensely in school and college because of this ....I didn’t think I was worth enough to do as well in life as everyone else.
“He saw me as dirt and used me for his own benefit .... I was damaged and just something for people to use .... it will always damage how I see myself and my worth, which is in no way fair. Because of what he did to me I have never felt ‘pure’,” she said.
The second assault happened three years later, in December 2014, when a 19-year-old woman woke up in a house where she was staying to discover Twohig had digitally penetrated her after entering her room.
Twohig admitted both incidents when he was questioned separately by two investigating gardai and he co-operated fully and indicated at the first opportunity that he would be pleading guilty to both offences, the court heard.
Twohig, who fought back tears as the two gardai gave evidence, took to the witness stand to express his remorse to his victims for the pain that he had caused by his actions.
“I am extremely sorry. For what they have had to go through over the last few years I am extremely sorry,” he said.
Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan BL said that Twohig had a third level education and had hoped to pursue a career in child care but that was no longer open to him as a result of these assaults, as he was unable to get Garda clearance.
He came from a respectable family, who were devastated by his actions while he himself was genuinely remorseful and had gone for counselling to address a number of issues, including an alcohol addiction, and he was currently attending Alcoholics Anonymous, said Mr O’Sullivan.
Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin said that one offence on its own would be serious and merit a custodial sentence but to commit a second offence in similar circumstances three years later brought matters to an even higher level.
The aggravating factors included the fact that Twohig had taken advantage of two younger women and had invaded their privacy in a most disturbing manner and the undermining effect that the sexual assaults had on his victims
He accepted that Twohig was remorseful and it was to his credit that he pleaded guilty, which spared his victims the trauma of a trial; while his guilty plea was also a public vindication of how he had wronged them.
He sentenced Twohig to one year in jail for the first sexual assault and then to four years concurrent for the second assault but suspended the final year of the four year term to leave Twohig facing three years in jail.