Judge 'reluctantly' suspends jail term in Ballina defilement case
Judge Eoin Garavan said the victim had been robbed of her childhood and virginity.
A young man who defiled a girl when she was 14 and he was 17 has received a suspended prison sentence.
The victim waived her right to anonymity so the accused could be named.
Devon Lavery, aged 23, of Moyvale, Ballina, admitted the charge of defilement of a child under the age of 17 when he appeared before a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court. The case was originally heard last February.
Det Gda Anne-Marie McHale told the court that on September 29, 2018, the injured party asked her mother could she go to town in Ballina to meet one of her friends. Her mother reluctantly agreed and when her friend cancelled she met two other female acquaintances. They went to Tom Ruane Park and encountered Lavery and two other youths.
Dt Gda McHale said Lavery had been trying to meet the girl for a number of weeks. The court later heard they had previously spoken on Snapchat but not met in person before. They kissed at the park but when Lavery asked for more, meaning sex, she refused. The victim said her mother was coming to collect her. Her friends left the park and she remained with Lavery and the two other males.
Det Gda McHale said Lavery picked the injured party up and carried her to a quieter area of the park at the astro-turf pitch. He tried to pull her trousers down on more than one occasion but the victim attempted to stop him from doing so. When he eventually succeeded, he put his fingers inside her vagina before forcing her to masturbate him.
The belt loop of the victim’s trousers was left broken as a result of Lavery's efforts to pull them down. Lavery forced the girl to bend over and put his penis into her vagina causing her pain. He attempted to carry out the act again but she got away.
Det Gda McHale said Lavery stayed at the back of the park "finishing himself off".
The court heard that while Lavery knew the victim was under the age of 17 there was ambiguity about whether he knew she was under 15.
In a victim impact statement, the young woman said the last five years have been the toughest of her life.
“I was robbed of my childhood overnight,” she told the court.
She lived in fear everyday and the crime caused her to go into a state of "complete numbness".
“He tore me to pieces,” she said.
The woman said she suffered with nightmares and lost friends who did not believe her.
“I should have had the choice of who I lost my virginity to and he robbed me of that at 14 years old,” she stated.
Lavery, who works as a mechanic, has no previous convictions but has come to Garda attention more recently for road traffic and public order matters.
In delivering his verdict, Judge Eoin Garavan said the court was in a difficult position given the fact that the lesser charge of defilement was what the accused was charged with while “aggravating circumstances” were outlined in the victim impact statement.
The judge said the victim has been “robbed of her childhood and her virginity". He said evidence was given that Lavery walked the injured party to her mother’s car which suggested that “he didn’t think he did anything wrong". The defendant has since undergone counselling around the area of consent and is deemed to be at low risk of re-offending. He has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Judge Garavan said he was imposing a prison sentence of 18 months but was “reluctantly” suspending it for three years.
“I want this hanging over him for three years,” said the judge.
