"IF I had the authority to do it I'd order you to be flogged," said Judge Kieran O'Connor to a teenager who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a five- year-old boy.
Less than two months later the Dublin teenager robbed a couple in St Stephen's Green and sexually assaulted the young woman. The victims, both aged 16, had been "transfixed with fear" when the defendant sat down beside them on a park bench pretending he had a syringe, Garda Daniel McCarthy told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the five-year- old boy at Glovers Alley behind the College of Surgeons on June 19th, 1996.
He also pleaded guilty to robbing the couple of Pounds 5 and Pounds 10 and sexually assaulting the woman on
August 3rd, 1996.
Judge O'Connor accepted that the defendant was repeating sexual abuse which had been inflicted on him in 1993. The 40-year-old abuser was later jailed for four years.
But, he told the youth: "There is no point saying you were bullied when younger. You took and abused a child, a mere child. You have to face up to that. You have to decide whether you are going to grow up to be a decent man or a blackguard."
The defendant's mother said: "He's not a bad young fella. He got raped and we went through hell." She left court in a distressed state when Judge O'Connor said her son was doing well in Oberstown House reformatory and would have to stay there for a three-year period.
Det Garda Sean Cullen told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh that the five-year-old victim went missing near his home on June 19th, 1996. Half an hour later his mother found him in a distressed state and he explained what happened.
She then saw the defendant, who was also upset. He apologised for sexually assaulting the boy and told her husband: "You can hit me if you want."
Det Garda Cullen said he had been involved in investigating the sexual abuse of the defendant, after which he stopped attending school and became difficult.