Man (21) sent messages to girl (13) ‘to do stuff’

A teenage girl has said a man took her innocence from her after suggesting they meet “to do stuff ” while talking on the messaging app Snapchat.

In a victim impact statement read to Sligo Circuit Court, the now 16-year-old girl said her innocence now has a ‘dark patch’ thanks to the accused.

John Kilcoyne (24), of Ougham, Tubbercurry appeared before Sligo Circuit Criminal Court where he admitted sexually exploiting a girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 on 2nd of February 2016.

The court heard that on February 2nd, 2016, the 13-year-old girl received a friend request from Kilcoyne, then 21, on the mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, text, and drawings.

Kilcoyne contacted her as they had a mutual friend in common on the messaging application which allows sent items to disappear after a designated number of seconds.

After receiving a message from the male, the teen asked him what age he was, to which he replied, ‘21’.

She told him she was 13 and then told her mother about the messages. Her mother told her to tell him her age and that would end matters.

The court heard that the 21-year-old messaged her again and suggested going to a local golf club to do ‘stuff ’.

The teen understood this to mean sex and in a later statement to gardaí, said she felt uncomfortable.

Kilcoyn replied, ‘I’ ll only do stuff if you want to’, to which the teen replied, ‘I don’t know you, it would be weird’. The 21 year old referred to the golf club being a quiet location and said, ‘I’d still rather us though, so we could do stuff ’.

She replied, ‘You’re 21 and I’m known around town’.

It was also heard that she had recieved an angled picture of the male, which clearly showed him to be bearded and older than her.

When questioned about the incident, Kilcoyne initially said his friend had his phone for a time, before admitting he had the phone.

He told gardaí the teen had added him on the app and she was ‘ trying to flirt’ with him and she knew he had a car and was ‘ looking for lifts’.

The then 21 year old then explained that he had been drinking a lot at the time and was never going to meet her.

He told gardaí he felt embarrassed and admitted to sending the friend request and told them that if he was let off with a warning it would never happen again. Screenshots of the conversation were retrieved using Cellebrite, a phone data extraction software.

Defending barrister Desmond Dockery SC with Mr Pat O’Sullivan BL and Mr Morgan Coleman, solicitor described the victim as a ‘impressive young lady’.

Mr Dockery outlined to the court that his client had not referenced a sexual act, but that it was an ‘inference’ from the conversation.

Referencing his client’s garda interview, Mr Dockery said Kilcoyne had no intention of meeting the girl and that his client said ‘it wasn’t really me talking’. He told gardaí that when he drinks he ‘messes about on the phone’ and said on the night in question he did not ‘ take in’ the girl’s age.

In her victim impact statement, the now 16 year old said it was thanks to the man’s ‘abuse of technology’ her innocence now has a ‘dark patch’.

“Your intentions took an innocence from me,” she stated.

She said that following the incident she was afraid to walk down the streets but added, “You don’t frighten me now. Hopefully this is a wakeup call for you so you cannot do this again.”

She said the incident had made her wiser and reminds her to ‘always trust my gut’.

“You have made me wiser on the internet and I thank you for that. The internet never really loses anything,” she concluded.

In mitigation, Mr Dockery said his client told the teen what age he was and that no crude content was introduced to the conversation. He said his client did not take in the teen’s age on the night.

Mr Dockery outlined that his client had been experiencing ‘psychotic symptoms’, believed people were watching him and was hearing voices.

The defending barrister noted that on a previous occasion there had been reservations about Kilcoyne’s fitness to plead to the charge due to his mental health.

He pleaded guilty to the Use of information and communication technology to facilitate sexual exploitation of child on November 7 th last.

It was heard that the now 24-year-old man had been referred to local mental health services, was vulnerable in the community and his judgement and decision making abilities were ‘impaired’.

“He is a young man with a complicated history...This man is not a threat to children providing he follows services in the community,” said Mr Dockery, adding that his client exhibited a degree of immaturity.

Judge Francis Comerford told the court that he was not considering an immediate custodial sentence but put the matter back to February 26 th for consideration.

The judge commented that the male was ‘extremely lucky’ that the victim had not let the matters escalate and therefore avoided consequences on his behalf.