In another sickening case from Irish courts a man was convicted of defilement of his teenage cousin who was passed out from Drink and Cannabis at the time. The Central Criminal Court heard that the man was aged 29 at the time when he met the 16-year-old girl and they spent the afternoon drinking outside and smoking cannabis.

The victim told Gardaí that she was “stoned” and passing out and remembers coming to and finding the man having sex with her. She said she remembered being inside the church in the city with the man earlier and telling him that she wanted to go to sleep.

She said her cousin kept asking her to go over to the bushes and she kept saying no. She said he told her he could take care of her and she thought “he was looking out for me”.

She said the defendant later began groping her and she was telling him to stop. She said she reminded him that they were cousins, but he ignored her. She said she was so out of it she was not able to keep her eyes open.

In her victim impact statement, read by Detective Sergeant Paul Duane, the woman told her cousin:

“I always will remember the day you took my innocence away from me as a child. You are a child molester and you are a rapist and you will forever be a rapist.”

Sentencing on Wednesday, Justice Paul McDermott said the victim was a vulnerable person and the defendant took advantage of her after she became intoxicated. He noted the significant disparity of age.

He noted the mitigating factors submitted by the defendant's legal team were a dysfunctional childhood with drug and drink problems in the family home. He also noted the man's own mental health issues and his low intellectual ability.

He said that unlike in some cases of defilement of a child, this case did not involve any grooming over an extended period of time and seemed to be a once-off incident.

The judge said that there was an absence of evidence of lack of consent and no evidence of violence. However could this girl given her age even give consent?

He noted that the Probation Service has assessed the defendant as being at a medium risk of committing more sexual offences.

He set a headline sentence of three and a half years which he reduced by one year, taking mitigation into consideration. He also imposed a two-year post release supervision period during which the defendant must engage fully with the Probation Service and attend any psychiatric appointments as recommended by the Probation Service.

He backdated the start of the sentence by five months to allow for time already served in custody.

What I don’t understand here is how a sick crime like rape/defilement of an underage individual has a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison while a person caught with more than €13000 worth of Cannabis can get a 10 year sentence and a number of people have received this length of sentence for Cannabis already in Ireland.

To me this says the Irish justice system is more interested in deterring the sale and supply of Cannabis than deterring the rape of underage kids. Surely a crime like the rape of a child should have no limit to the amount of time a judge can send them to prison?

I know myself I would be quite happy to go and buy some Cannabis but I hope I am never raped. Why should my dealer be able to get more time in prison than a person who takes the innocence away from a child?

Reading this case as a father to two daughters I’m sick thinking a person like this will be back on the streets quicker than a person growing or selling Cannabis.