The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
THREE YEARS FOR SEX ASSAULT ON GIRL (15)
JUDGE TOM O’DONNELL TELLS COURT THAT CASE IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT HE HAS EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH OF THIS NATURE
A TRALEE man has been given a three year sentence with the last 12 months suspended for the defilement of a girl under 17 and for sexual assaulting the same girl while she was staying over at his family home at 40 Sunday’s Well, Tralee between July 2 and 3, 2016.
Prosecution Barrister, Tom Rice, told the court that the victim wished to waive her anonymity to allow the court to name the accused man, Martin Flynn, of 40 Sunday’s Well, Tralee who is the partner of the victim’s aunt.
“She has a strong view that the accused be named and does not care if it will identify her,” he said.
The court agreed to remove reporting restrictions.
Judge Tom O’Donnell, told the court on Friday, that it was one of the “most difficult he has had to deal with of this nature”.
Evidence had been heard in the case last July. Mr Flynn, who was represented by solicitor Dave Ramsey, had pleaded guilty to the offences and it came before Tralee Circuit Criminal Court on Friday for sentencing. The court heard that the victim was 15 at the time of the offence and that she had a strong bond with Mr Flynn and his partner, the victim’s aunt, and their three children.
The Judge said that on the night in question the accused had bought alcohol and cigarettes and when the children went to bed the victim’s aunt, the victim and Mr Flynn stayed up.
Mr Flynn’s partner fell asleep and Mr Flynn and the victim went to lie on the trampoline where he forced himself upon her. The court heard that he had tried to use cling-film as a condom. They went back into the house and again he forced himself upon her and put his fingers into her private parts. She left the following morning and later confided in her father’s partner. She was taken to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Cork where swabs were taken from her underwear and a link was made to the accused via DNA. He was arrested on July 19 and maintained that the victim had consented to his actions and he blamed alcohol and her flirty nature. Judge Tom O’Donnell said that the victim impact statement was “powerful, poignant and shocking”. He said that the victim has suffered from the assault but also from the reaction of certain members of her family. The court heard that she has been “isolated” by her grandmother and other members of her family and can’t see her cousins any more. He said that she had got a text saying it was her own fault and that the grandmother had refused to speak to victim and her mother.
“The victim has been unfairly isolated for doing nothing wrong,” said Judge O’Donnell. “Family occasions are fraught with guilt and anxiety because she told the truth,” he said.
He told the victim that she had done nothing wrong and that the accused had committed the offence and it was “unfortunate about the moral compass of the family in dealing with the truth”. The court was told that it appeared from the probation report that Mr Flynn suggested that the victim was to blame and that she and her mother were out to destroy him and his family because they are jealous.
Judge O’Donnell said Mr Flynn’s action were an “enormous breach of trust”.
He added that this has had a emotional and physical impact on the victim especially because of the way she has been treated by those she thought she could rely on. He said that the early admissions of the accused, though self serving, and the lack of a trial had to be considered. He said that Mr Flynn had been described as an excellent parent and that he was remorseful but that it was hard to believe this given the probation report.
“His victim blaming continues unabated,” said Judge O’Donnell.
He sentenced Mr Flynn to three years with one year suspended and warned him to say away from the victim and her family for three years and that he be placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.