A BOY WHO was 13 years old when he sexually and physically assaulted a young woman is to be detained in Oberstown Children’s Detention Campus for 18 months.
Last month at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, the now 15-year-old was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman after he followed her as she walked home from a night out in Cork City centre.
The juvenile, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman – who is in her 20s – on the same night in January 2022.
The court heard that the young woman was beaten so badly in the face that the facial recognition feature on her phone failed to recognise her when she attempted to call her parents.
The victim said: “I tried to ring my parents, but I have facial identification on my phone and the phone wouldn’t open up because I looked so horrendous and when I saw my face on the camera phone later, I just freaked out.”
The victim recalled how when she was walking home late on the night of the offence, she became suspicious that someone was following her. She thought she was imagining things but then she was pushed to the ground.
“It’s a bit of a blur but I remember bits and pieces, the next thing I remember is being kicked in the face, my face was on the road, I had earrings on, and I could feel them sticking into me,” she said.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to die’.”
The woman was rushed to hospital for treatment. When she woke up the next day she had pain in the back of her head but she couldn’t recall being hit there.
She later remembered that the person who attacked her had grabbed her ponytail before attempting to drag her face down along the road.
I remember being kicked in the face and then it was lights out.”
Detective Sergeant Katrine Tansley told the sentencing hearing today that the woman had left Cork City centre following a night out at 11.25pm on 29 January 2022.
Whilst on Evergreen Street, she was approached from behind by the 13-year-old whom Detective Sergeant Tansley indicated “struck her on the back of the head, knocking her on to the ground and hitting her in the head”.
Detective Sergeant Tansley said that a female witness observed the woman on the ground being kicked in the head. She noticed that the victim’s long dress was pulled up to her waist and her underwear was down.
The detective said: “The woman spoke to the young male who acted as if he was helping. When another passerby approached, he ran away down Travers Street. The woman had pronounced swelling on her jaw.”
Detective Sergeant Tansley said that the woman was taken to Cork University Hospital where she was treated for serious facial/jaw injuries and concussion. She was also assessed at the Sexual Assault Unit at the South Infirmary Hospital.
She didn’t have a full recollection of the incident. However, she experienced flashbacks of being dragged down the road.
In her victim impact statement, the college student said that her life had been going well and she could never have imagined how much it was going to change.
“I don’t remember much of the attack, but I do remember the aftermath. I remember being in the hospital and really seeing my face close-up. I was in complete shock. I didn’t look or feel like myself. It was maybe a few months later before the reality of what was done to me set in.
“I found, and still find, sleeping difficult. I had sleeping tablets prescribed by my doctor because it got so bad. I would lie awake in bed, thinking about what had happened and replaying the short flashback I had over and over again in my head.
“I missed around eight weeks of my final year because of my head injury. When I went back, I was extremely overwhelmed and found it hard to concentrate.”
The victim said she was determined not to let what had happened to her control her life. However, she finds it hard to walk places on her own.
“Even walking during the day if I hear or think I hear footsteps I find it hard to breathe and start panicking. It feels like I’m back in the moment I was being assaulted. I usually wait for the person to pass me in order to try to calm down,” she said.
“I would say I have a good relationship with my family and they have helped me hugely over the last year. I have noticed the impact that this has had on them.”
The woman said her parents have been affected by the event as, “No matter where I go my parents won’t fall asleep until I’m home.”
The woman said she finds it hard to hug or be close to male friends of family members since the incident and the idea of being in a romantic relationship in the future makes her feel extremely uncomfortable.
She also feels anxious when passing teenage or young boys.
“For a minute, my heart starts to race and my chest feels tight. I feel angry that this was done to me while I was doing something so basic that everyone has a right to do. I feel angry that my sense of safety has been taken away from me.
“There hasn’t been one day that has passed that I haven’t thought about what happened: it has changed me and I’m still dealing with it but I know that I won’t let it control me forever.”
A witness previously told the trial that she was driving up Evergreen Street when she saw a male in the middle of the road. His leg was moving as if he was kicking something.
The woman indicated that when she got closer she noticed that he was kicking a woman.
“She had a long dress on [but] I could see the girl’s dress was up above her waist, it was up around her breasts, and I could see her panties, her panties were down, you could see her crotch. She was lying on the floor.”
The woman said that she informed the victim that she was safe now. She and two other people who came upon the scene started cleaning the blood off her face which was beginning to swell up badly.
The teenager claimed that he was trying to help the woman and that three other men had attacked her. He said it was his plan to go after them.
Today at the sentencing hearing, Siobhan Lankford, defence counsel, said that she appreciated the gravity of the offence. She appealed for leniency in the case saying that her client had never been in trouble prior to the incident.
The solicitor said that the boy has not gotten in trouble since and has a good support network at home.
Judge Catherine Staines said that a “disturbing” aspect of the case involved the youth having watched pornography from the age of 11.
“I think it is truly shocking that this is available to vulnerable, impressionable young people. Clearly these companies are making vast sums of money from selling pornographic material.
More rigorous restrictions should be imposed on them to prevent this harmful material being available to young children.
Judge Staines said that it was a “vicious” incident and sympathised with the victim who had suffered “grotesque injuries”.
She said that the sexual assault, whilst serious, was at the lower end of the scale as it involved the youth pulling up the dress of the woman and pulling down her underwear during the attack.
She directed that the youth be detained at Oberstown for a period of 18 months.
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