A west Clare adult teenager ‘groomed’ a 13 year old girl through Snapchat before sexually assaulting her on two dates at Vandeleur Woods on the outskirts of the west Clare town of Kilrush three years ago, a court has heard.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford has imposed a 28 month prison term with the final six months suspended on Ryce Clohessy (23) of Henry Street, Kilrush, Co Clare.
Mr Clohessy was aged 19 at the time of the offences in 2023 when he asked the then 13 year old girl “to be his secret girl-friend”, the court heard.
In the case, Mr Clohessy pleaded guilty to two counts of the sexual assault of the girl at
at Vandeleur Woods, Feagarroge, Kilrush on June 7th and June 8th 2023.
Concerning the Snapchat contact, Mr Clohessy pleaded guilty to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to facilitate sexual exploitation of a child between May 19th 2023 and June 22nd 2023.
In jailing Mr Clohessy for one year and 10 months, Judge Comerford said Mr Clohessy had engaged in a process of ‘grooming’ where he sent sexual videos of himself via Snapchat and he also induced the girl to send explicit pictures of herself back to him.
Judge Comerford said that “that was highly destructive for a young child to be exposed to sexual contact at that age and to be drawn into it by someone she was looking up to”.
In her victim impact statement, the teenager said that Clohessy’s offending “has done a lot of damage to my mental health”.
In evidence, Garda Conor Flaherty of the Clare Division Protective Services Unit, said that the then 19 year old Ryce Clohessy and then 13 year old met at a Christening in May 2023.
Garda Flaherty said that they then contacted through Snapchat where a trust was built up and Clohessy allowed her to access his ‘my eyes only’ Snapchat folder.
Garda Flaherty said that Clohessy sent on videos of himself carrying out a solo sex act via Snapchat to the girl “while he begged her to send on naked pictures of herself and she sent photos of her breast and genital area”.
On June 7th 2023, the two arranged to meet at Vandeleur Woods and Garda Flaherty said that at a location in the woods, Clohessy grabbed the girl’s buttocks and started to kiss her.
At a Garda specialist interview, the girl told Gardai that Clohessy told her not to tell anyone what they were doing.
Garda Flaherty said that the two met at Vandeleur Woods the following day and Judge Comerford said that what occurred on June 8th “was a more prolonged and deliberate attempt by Mr Clohessy to engage in sexual conduct”.
Judge Comerford said that it is fortunate certainly from the injured party’s point of view and from the accused’s that she had the fortitude to stop him proceeding to place his hands inside her clothes.
Garda Flaherty said that the complainant told a female teenage cousin about what had occurred and the cousin pretended to be injured party with Clohessy in Snapchat exchanges before telling him that she knew what he did.
Garda Flaherty said that the complainant had video recorded her cousin telling Clohessy on Snapchat calling him out for what he was doing.
This resulted in Mr Clohessy attending Kilrush Garda Station on June 22nd 2023 to say that he received these Snapchat messages and didn’t know why he was receiving them and he wanted this recorded on PULSE.
The complainant told her mother what had occurred and on July 7th 2023 the two went to Kilrush Garda Station to make a complaint to the Gardai and handed over the 13 year old’s phone.
Counsel for Mr Clohessy, Patricks Whyms BL (instructed by solicitor, Patrick Moylan) said that what had occurred was an aberration and Mr Clohessy wants to make clear that he does not have an attraction to children.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Clohessy “can’t fully explain how he became involved in this activity” and wants to apologise to the complainant and her family.
In sentencing, Judge Comerford set a headline sentence of 40 months before reducing it to 28 months with the final six months suspended.
Judge Comerford said that a sexual assault on a child “is a horrible offence in that it has the potential for long term impact”.
Judge Comerford said that in the case there was a degree of persistence in attempting to have sexual engagement with a 13-year old girl.
Mr Clohessy had no previous convictions apart from a few road traffic matters and Judge Comerford said that this was not a single aberration “but an isolated pattern of offending over a relatively short space of time”.
Judge Comerford said that Mr Clohessy has not offended since and did plead guilty to the offence.
Judge Comerford said that at 19 years of age, Mr Clohessy still had many of the immaturities and impulsiveness of youth and if he had been older at the time it would have been more serious.
Mr Clohessy has not been named before now in relation to the case and Judge Comerford said: “I do accept that it is appropriate that Mr Clohessy’s name be published and that will have an ongoing impact but that is his responsibility and entering a guilty plea is accepting responsibility.”
