A man who exposed his penis to a 10-year-old school girl while he sat in his parked car has been given a suspended one-year prison sentence.
Steven Russell (47) of Cooperhill, Julianstown, Co Meath, was also ordered to pay €5,000 to the child’s parents or guardians within the next six months, to help them cover her therapy and counselling costs.
Russell pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to exposure of his genitals intending to cause fear or distress on September 8th 2020 in County Dublin.
He has no previous convictions.
Fionnuala O’Sullivan BL, prosecuting, told the court that a trial date had been fixed in February 2022, but it didn’t proceed because Russell had a car accident.
It was set down for trial a second time and didn’t get on before on a third trial date, and then in November last year, Russell pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The court heard that the complainant, now 13 years old, had been prepared on each of those three potential trial dates to give evidence.
Her father was present in court for the sentence hearing and a victim impact statement was prepared but not read into the record.
Day of incident
Detective Garda Colin Fitzpatrick told Ms O’Sullivan that the girl was running ahead of her mother en route to school that morning in order to drop into her friend, so that the two girls could walk on together.
When she arrived at her friend’s house, the friend’s mother described the child as being “very shook and on the verge of tears”.
The woman called the child’s mother and gardaí.
The girl was later interviewed by specialist garda interviewers in which she said she was walking to school when there was a man in a blueish grey car. His windows were open and he was parked up.
She said the man told her to “come here”.
The child said the man had “his thing out”, had a beard and was wearing grey clothes.
She confirmed that when she said “his thing” she was referring to the man’s penis. She said he was moving his hand up and down on his penis.
CCTV footage
Det Gda Fitzpatrick said gardaí “canvassed the area” for CCTV footage and were able to identify a Land Rover Discovery jeep with a County Meath registration that had been driving around the general area at that time.
He played footage to the court which showed the child walking along before stopping at the car. She then walks away quickly from the vehicle following the interaction.
Judge Martin Nolan had adjourned the case overnight to consider it. He said it an “obnoxious sort of crime” and one that “fills most humans with revulsion”.
“There’s a stigma attached to it,” added Judge Nolan, saying that it was impossible to know what was in Russell’s mind but that he must have known that it had a serious effect on this child.
Judge Nolan said it was probably unlikely that Russell would reoffend and noted that he had been under stress at the time.
He said the mitigation included Russell’s early plea, his absence of previous convictions, his long work history and the fact that he was a family man with responsibilities.
Det Gda Fitzpatrick said Russell was identified as the registered owner of the vehicle and officers called to his home in September 2020.
He admitted that he owned the vehicle and that he was the only person who drove it. He accepted that he had been in the area at the time visiting the graves of his relatives.
He denied the offence and didn’t accept there was any interaction between him and the child.
Guilty plea
Det Gda Fitzpatrick agreed with Dominic McGinn SC, defending, that Russell had previously been facing a more serious charge and agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offence last November.
He accepted that Russell was a married man with three teenage children and when the allegation was first made, Tusla became involved. They have since concluded that there is no risk to Russell’s children.
Det Gda Fitzpatrick further accepted that the accident Russell had in February 2022 was a single vehicle incident in which his car was driven into a tree.
He suffered serious injuries as a result, including a collapsed lung and fractured leg and continues to receive rehabilitation for those injuries.
Mr McGinn said any offence involving a child has to been taken seriously but said “mercifully” the interaction was very brief and didn’t involve any physical interaction between Russell and the child.
He asked the court to accept that it was completely out of character given his client’s lack of previous convictions and the fact that he has not come to garda attention since.
Mr McGinn said his client was “in a dark place at the time” as his father had diagnosed with terminal cancer.
He said the justice process has taken a toll on Russell and asked the court to take into account “the social impact” of this kind of offence on both himself and his family.
Counsel accepted that Russell had “clearly brought this on himself” but asked the court to consider if an immediate custodial sentence was justified considering his client was a first-time offender.
Ms O’Sullivan confirmed that the offence that Russell has pleaded guilty to allows for a maximum sentence of two years. She said the offence does not result in Russell being registered as a sex offender.
Judge Nolan said that if the child’s parents did not wish to avail of the sum of €5,000, the investigating gardaí should apply the figure to a charity.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
