Abused boy packed knife to confront paedophile
A child victim of a broken-up paedophile ring, now aged 17, “flipped” and packed a knife with the intention of confronting “a renowned paedophile”.
The incident occurred after the sex offender had made unwanted advances on the teenager in April of this year, a court has heard.
The Children’s Court in Ennis was told the teenager has been through “torture” and was the primary victim of a paedophile ring in Cork City when he was a child that the State broke up a number of years ago.
The court heard the teenager suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his early childhood experiences and has been in State care since the age of 10. The sexual abuse occurred before the teen went into State care.
The teenager was before the Children’s Court, where he pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a knife in a Clare town on April 17.
Solicitor Daragh Hassett told the court: “This young man was the victim of systematic sexual and physical abuse for many years in Cork City.
“There was a paedophile ring there broken up by the State some years ago and this young man was the primary victim of that. It was an appalling case.”
Mr Hassett said this is relevant as the teenager is living in State care in a Clare town where “a well known and renowned paedophile befriended my client.
“This man was an elderly man and on the night in question, this man telephoned my client and was making certain advances to him and my client got into a taxi to make his way towards where this man lives.
“You have a young man who was a victim of sexual abuse from a very young age and you have this paedophile who was trying to seek him out for the purpose of more abuse and my client reacted and he flipped.”
Sergeant Aiden Lonergan said when the teenager was intercepted by social workers and the gardaí, a rucksack was recovered from the boot of the taxi where a knife was found.
Mr Hassett said the knife was not used on the night and wasn’t taken from the rucksack.
He said the paedophile is currently the subject of a Garda ‘grooming’ investigation.
Mr Hassett said his client “is doing very, very well” in care.
Asked about the background to the incident by Judge Patricia Harney as outlined by Mr Hassett, Sgt Lonergan said the facts are accepted by the State.
In evidence, the teenager’s social worker said: “This is a very complex case, the boy has been in State care since he was 10.”
The care worker said that there have been a number of outstanding child protection concerns where the teenager was a victim of ongoing vulnerable situations that are being investigated by specialist interviewers.
The social worker said that in his current placement, there has been no instance of violence by the boy against any staff in the care home.
Judge Harney said that the facts of the case distinguished it
the case
from the normal run of cases that come before the district court and she said she would dismiss the case against the teen.
