A man who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for the sexual assault of a child has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for a similar offence.
Erin O’Brien (25) of Kilcross road, Sandyford, pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual assault which occurred on 20th September 2018.
O’Brien, who was 22 years of age at the time of the assault, assaulted a boy aged 9. O’Brien exposed the young boy to child abuse imagery and touched the boy’s genital area. The boy was also instructed to touch O’Brien several times.
The court heard that O’Brien also offered the child cash if he would engage in anal sex, but the child refused.
A victim impact statement was prepared by the mother of the victim in which she stated that her child “was a happy go, lucky child, without a care in the world before the assault”.
The boy now attends counselling and is a changed child due to O’Brien’s actions, the court heard.
Similar offences
Judge Melanie Greally outlined the most serious aggravating factor was the offer of cash by O’Brien to the boy for sex and that the offence was carried out after a sequence of similar offences with another victim.
Judge Greally considered O’Brien’s guilty plea, which spared the victim the trauma of a trial. Documents submitted to the court outlined that O’Brien is proactive in engaging in therapeutic and counselling services.
Judge Greally sentenced O’Brien to 30 months in prison which will run concurrently with his current prison sentence, and backdated it to when he entered a guilty plea.
O’Brien will be subject to post-release supervision and must participate and cooperate with services deemed appropriate by the probation services. In addition, O’Brien is to have no direct or indirect contact with the victim and must have no unsupervised access to children.
Judge Greally hopes that the victim can live a normal and happy life and also thanked the victim’s family.
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.
In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
