A 22-year old west Clare man has pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a then 13-year old girl at Vandeleur Woods on the outskirts of the west Clare town of Kilrush three years ago.
At Ennis Circuit Court, the man has pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of the teenager at Vandeuler Woods, Feagarroge, Kilrush in June 2023 and also pleaded guilty to a sexual exploitation charge.
Counsel for the State, Sarah Jane Comerford BL (instructed by State Solicitor for Clare, Aisling Casey) said that the three guilty pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on a full facts basis.
In the case, the accused has pleaded guiulty to two counts of the sexual assault of the girl at Vandeleur Woods, Feagarroge, Kilrush on June 7th and June 8th 2023.
The charges are contrary to Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 as amended by Section 37 of the Sex Offenders Act.
On conviction in the circuit court, persons face prison terms up to five years.
The accused has also pleaded guilty to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to facilitate sexual exploitation of a child, contrary to Section 8 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017.
In the particulars, the accused has pleaded guilty to on date unknown between May 19th 2023 and June 22nd 2023 at a location unknown within the State did by the use of information technology communicate with the girl for the purposes of facilitating her sexual exploitation.
The accused was aged 19 at the time of the offences in June 2023.
In the case, Judge Francis Comerford directed a victim impact statement from the complainant in the case.
Ms Comerford said that the sentencing should receive priority as the complainant is now 15 and was aged 13 at the time of the offences.
There was no Garda objection to the man securing conditional bail when the case was before Kilrush District Court last year and Judge Francis Comerford further remanded the man to bail for the case to come before Ennis Circuit Court on July 31st to fix a date for sentence.
