Mary Crilly says the idea of a suspended sentence for abusing a child is beyond belief and has called for mandatory sentences to be introduced for child sexual abuse.
The 19 year old who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim pleaded guilty to seven counts of rape and 10 sexual assault offences committed when he was aged between 14 and 17 and the victim was aged between 8 and 11.
At a High Court Sitting in Cork, Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy said rehabilitation was better achieved in the community and imposed a five-year suspended sentence on the teenager.
Speaking to RedFM News, Mary Crilly from the Sexual Violence Centre Cork outlines how mandatory sentencing could help a victim:
"The judge has to have some kind of discretion and take certain things into account but I think if there was a year or two years, if there's something mandatory, I think, for the victim that might help. And I totally understand where people are coming from where they say it was a young guy, maybe he's better off staying in the community, he might get more rehabilitation and I just keep looking back and saying, what about the victim? Maybe the victim needs to see him incarcerated for some period, so I don't want to take it totally out of the judge's hands- it's their decision they have to take number things into account, but I think the idea of being found guilty of a horrendous crime like sexual offence, and any of it being suspended, let alone the total of it being suspended is appalling."
