A Wicklow man who carried out various sexual offences on two young girls who were his neighbours has been jailed for five and a half years.
Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court heard that among his offending was an incident in which he got one of the girls to replicate scenes from a pornography film with her brother.
Darren Hanlon (34), of Beechwood, Laragh, Co Wicklow, was convicted of sexually assaulting his young neighbour, Kerri Anne Murphy, following a three-day trial last November.
The father of two also pleaded guilty to the sexual assault and sexual exploitation of another young neighbour, Esther Byrne.
The victims waived their right to anonymity in order to allow Hanlon to be named.
Garda Shane Barker told a sentencing hearing on Tuesday that Hanlon had brought his nephew and Ms Murphy to a bathing spot near Laragh. The court heard the accused had followed the girl, who was aged around eight-years-old at the time, to where she had been changing back into her clothes after the swim.
He placed her against a wire fence and proceeded to penetrate her with his fingers, and shouted at his nephew to stay away when he came looking for them, the court heard.
Garda Barker said the sexual assault, which had occurred on an unknown date between May 1st, 2009, and September 30th, 2010, continued for about another minute.
Denial
The court heard that Hanlon denied sexually assaulting Ms Murphy when the allegation was first put to him in September 2018.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Murphy said she had been through an “emotional rollercoaster” that she never thought she would experience.
She added: “But it is an experience I am proud of myself for pushing through.”
“I was an outgoing, confident little girl. The world was my playground. Suddenly, the confidence I had and my bubbly personality as a child got torn down and destroyed by one person,” Ms Murphy said.
Fighting back tears, she described how she even found it difficult to trust the “three men in my life who mean the world to me” – referencing her father and two brothers.
She said the impact of Hanlon’s crime also affected other relationships, but added: “I have become such a strong woman because of what he did to me and the years of mental torture he put me through.”
Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, James Kelly BL, said Hanlon had pleaded guilty to a number of offences against another young neighbour, Esther Byrne, which were committed while he was a teenager on dates between November 2004 and November 2005.
The court heard he sexually assaulted his victim, who was around 10 at the time, after bringing her fishing at a location in Laragh. The court heard he had placed her on his lap, and she could feel his penis for about five minutes.
Hanlon also pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of Ms Byrne and her older brother, Willie, while he was babysitting them in their family home.
On that occasion, Garda Barker said the accused made them watch pornography on the television and then told them to copy what they had seen on screen.
He confirmed that the two victims had remained clothed during what was described as a “dry humping” incident, imitating an act of anal sex.
Garda Barker said there was another incident where Hanlon brought Ms Byrne to a building at the back of her home, which he called the 'Pleasure Shed' or 'Sex Shed'.
The court heard that the accused had placed his hand down her tracksuit bottoms and digitally penetrated her while telling his victim that “everything is going to be OK”.
'Worst nightmare'
Judge Patrick Quinn also heard that Hanlon is currently serving an 18-month jail sentence for six counts of sexual assault against Ms Byrne’s older brother at various locations in Wicklow on dates between September 2007 and July 2010, which was handed down by the Central Criminal Court last May.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Byrne said Hanlon was someone who had always been in her family home but had “overstepped the mark by abusing me and taking my innocence away.”
“My home, which was my safe haven, became my worst nightmare,” Ms Byrne said.
She said she would be “begging and screaming inside my mind” for her mother not to arrange Hanlon to babysit her on a weekly basis, as she knew what was going to happen.
Ms Byrne said she was uncertain how she could tell anyone about Hanlon because he had made her “feel dirty” and she had thought for a long time that she had done something to make him do that to her.
She revealed that she had also tried to take her own life after reporting the matter to gardaí, as she would see Hanlon wherever she looked around Laragh “and the nightmare would not go away”.
“I felt I would be better off dead than getting up on the stand proclaiming my innocence. For a long time I felt I was the defendant and not the victim,” she added.
Ms Byrne broke down as she described how a weight lifted off her shoulders when she heard Hanlon was pleading guilty to the charges in her case.
Counsel for Hanlon, Colman Fitzgerald SC, read out a letter from the accused in which he sincerely apologised for his “horrifying acts” and expressed remorse for the pain and distress he had caused the victims.
I felt I would be better off dead than getting up on the stand proclaiming my innocence.
Hanlon said he was humiliated and shamed by his actions, but asked that people realise that he is “not the same man I was when I committed these crimes”.
The court heard that Hanlon, who had been raised by his sister following the death of his mother when he was 11, had not come to the attention of gardaí over the intervening years.
Judge Quinn said he had heard two “extremely powerful” victim impact statements, and noted one of the main aggravating factors was that the victim had been placed in the care of Hanlon by their parents.
He sentenced Hanlon to four years in prison for the sexual offences relating to Ms Byrne, with the final two years suspended.
Judge Quinn said there was less mitigation regarding the sexual assault of Ms Murphy, as he had pleaded not guilty to the charge, sentencing Hanlon to four years with the final six months suspended to run consecutive to the other sentence.
Following the hearing, all three victims said they were “over the moon” with the sentences handed down.
“We hope it will encourage others to have the confidence to report similar abuse to gardaí,” Ms Murphy said.
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.
