October 2014



Three young Kildare residents have each received suspended sentences for the sexual abuse of a schoolgirl



Judge Mary Ellen Ring today apologised to the female victim, who was 14 years old at the time, for the four year delay in getting the case completed.



She said she was considering this delay when sentencing Leixlip men Edgar Ojo (20), Olajafar Adetoro (21) and Ismaheel Akinade (20) to two years suspended for three years.



Judge Ring criticised the time issue, saying: “These matters should not take four years to get through the prosecution process. All parties should endeavour to deal with the case.”



Ojo, of Lough Na Mona Park, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the girl in the downstairs toilet of his home on March 25, 2010.



He also admitted attempting to defile the girl in his kitchen and defiling her in a forest clearing, also on March 25, 2010.



Adetoro, of Easton Close, admitted defiling the girl in Leixlip locations on 27 February, 2010 and again on March 25, 2010.



Akinade, of Rinawade Vale, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and attempted defilement at Ojo’s home on March 15, 2010.



He also pleaded guilty to attempted defilement on March 25, 2010 at the same premises.



None of the men have any previous convictions.



Judge Ring said: “It is not acceptable that the injured party has had it hanging over her for four long years.”



The judge acknowledged the case delay has added to the victim’s distress and also affected the three men’s lives.



She commented that three others accused of similar offences against the injured party had been dealt with before another circuit court

The judge further noted that the three men will carry a sexual offence conviction with them, which may “cause them not to get employment, or to lose employment.”



She said this was punishment in itself and was likely to come back against them in many years to come.



At the sentence hearing in July, the court heard the offences all took place with several people present.



The three men, who were 16-years-old at the time, on one occasion took turns to have sex with the girl in a forest clearing.



The young woman read her Victim Impact Statement in court, describing how friends called her “a slut and a whore”.



She said she was still on anti-depressants, has had suicidal ideation and is constantly discussed on social media.



She revealed her family relationships have broken down due to attitudes about pre-marital sex.



The woman said though she feels isolated and depressed, she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her.



Garda Paul Carney told Roisin Lacey BL, prosecuting, that one of the men had sex with the girl three times in a friends’ sitting room while a number of others were present.



On March 25, the girl told gardaí that the three accused took it in turns to pin her to the ground and forcefully have sex with her.

Some days later the girl made a statement to gardaí and the men were arrested.



DNA from their semen was found on her clothing, and on two condoms found in the forest clearing.



Gda Carney said the girl revealed she had been in pain during the some of the sexual assaults but she let the youths abuse her “because that’s what they do and I had no choice.”



On March 25, 2010 she told gardai she went with a group of friends to a forest clearing, and one of the youths put a black leather jacket down on the ground.



The three men took it in turns to pin the girl down and have sex with her.



One of them said, “You look like you’re going to cry.” She said she slapped him across the face and asked: “Can you blame me?”



Gda Carney agreed with counsel for the three men that each had been co-operative and were remorseful.