A law graduate and religious youth leader has been given a two-year jail-term for the defilement and sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl in Dublin four years ago.
Mark McMorrow (27) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the defilement of Sophia Doyle (19) on December 20th, 2020. He also pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation on dates between September and December 2020. He further pleaded to communicating with a child for the purposes of exploitation on dates between April 10th, 2019 and December 20th, 2020.
Sinead McMullan BL, prosecuting, told the court that Ms Doyle wished to waive her right to anonymity to allow McMorrow to be named.
The court heard McMorrow of Woodlands Avenue, Cabinteely, Dublin was 22 years old when the offending began.
Judge James McCourt handed down a two-and-a-half-year sentence with the final six months suspended on certain conditions.
Detective Garda Lisa McDonnell told the court the events occurred between September and December 2020 and ended just a week before Ms Doyle’s 17th birthday.
She told Ms McMullan that the Doyle’s and McMorrow’s families knew each other through a faith-based group called Community of Nazareth. Her parents had joined when Ms Doyle was around seven or eight and all the families became very close, the court heard.
She was also part of a youth group in which McMorrow became a leader, and they saw each other socially. In 2019, when she was a third year in school, and she was struggling with her mental health, they started communicating on social media.
Discord messaging
He asked her to start messaging him on Discord, which the court heard was a more private type of messaging.
The victim told a priest what had happened, who then reported it to Tusla, who informed gardaí. The court heard the religious group also hired an independent professional to establish what had occurred.
The girl’s mobile phone was given to gardaí and McMorrow met with them at Dundrum Garda Station where he was interviewed but later released without charge.
He told gardaí that it was a relationship that had turned sexual, having initially considered her a friend. He said he knew what he was doing was illegal but was at a bad time in his life.
David Staunton BL, defending, told the court his client achieved very highly in school and was now a law graduate. He said he was a media officer but was not currently working.
Mr Staunton asked the court to have regard to the number of references handed into the court on behalf of his client.
Judge McCourt sentenced McMorrow to two-and-a-half years with the final two suspended.
On condition that he has no involvement with the Community of Nazareth, which Ms Doyle no longer attends, and he was not to communicate with the victim in any way.
The judge also told him he could not contact her through social media especially through the use of Discord.
The court was told McMorrow, who has no previous convictions had taken €800 to court to pay for counselling undertaken by the victim, but the judge said it didn’t affect the sentence.
Victim impact statement
Ms Doyle read a victim impact statement to the court in which she said McMorrow had betrayed her trust.
“Mark was in a position of power over me – not only with his age, but he was also in a position of pastoral and religious authority over me.
“He knew I wasn’t able to say ‘no’ and took advantage of that. Mark was a man that I had deeply trusted – that the entire community had trusted,” she added.
“For many years I believed him to be a friend to me, a role model, an older brother figure, and a mentor. But that has come crashing down and the scales have now fallen from my eyes. I was his victim,” she added.
In mitigation, counsel for the accused, who is now married, said references before the court would say the offending “was out of character for him”.
He said his client was now regarded as a sex offender, lost a huge social outlet and was unlikely to be able to visit the United States in the future. Mr Staunton said McMorrow had very genuine and religious beliefs.
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.
