Two Co Kildare men jailed for raping a teenage girl at four locations – The Irish Times

A 16-year-old girl who was gang raped by a teenager and her older neighbor described the men as “monsters in her dreams”.

The woman, now 21, read her victim impact statement via video link during the sentencing hearing of Patrick (aka PJ) Kelly, 22, and Joseph Byrne, 44.

The men were sentenced to a total of 26½ years in prison by Judge Paul McDermott at the Central Criminal Court.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said Kelly called her that day and told her he was going to take his own life, which is why she met him. He didn’t expect Byrne to be there.

Kelly, of Corra Choill Park, Prosperous, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court during a trial after a taped interview of the victim’s complaint to specialist gardaí was played for the jury.

He told his legal team that he did not want her to be cross-examined and pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, which was accepted on all the facts by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Kelly was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison; The final two years were suspended with strict conditions, including that he must serve in the Probation Service for three years and have no contact, direct or indirect, with the woman.

Byrne, also of Corra Choill Park in Prosperous, continued to deny the charges before being convicted by a new panel of judges on two counts of rape, two counts of oral rape and one count of anal rape. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He was also given a post-release supervision order for seven years and told not to have any direct or indirect contact with the woman.

The rapes occurred at an unknown date between March 2020 and June 2020 in four different locations, including a car in a Kildare town, Byrne’s home, in a field while he was walking with Kelly, and finally in another field.

The court heard the then-teenage girl was raped in a car by both men at the same time. After this incident, Byrne took her to his home and raped her.

The next morning, she was raped by Kelly in a field, before both men raped her simultaneously in another field. While the men took turns raping the girl vaginally, the other forced her to perform oral sex on him.

She later told Gardaí she felt like a “rag doll” and was in a lot of pain.

At one point, when she asked Kelly why Byrne would let her do this, Kelly replied that she “shared all my girls with Joe.”

She described how difficult she had to tell her family about what had happened, and said she scrubbed so hard in the shower that she bled, “trying to take away their scent.”

The woman said the detective to whom she reported the rape made her feel safe. “He was kind. “It made me feel good about telling the truth,” he said.

“I was brave and I wanted justice. “I wanted to make sure something like this wouldn’t happen again,” the woman said.

Speaking of Byrne, she said he dragged her through the courts: “It was like I was among them again.” He said his evidence at the trial was “absurd and delusional”; “I was feeling nauseous.”

“You were both monsters. “You were the monsters in my dreams and you were both in this dream,” he said.

Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, said the Director of Public Prosecutions found the case to fall within the “exceptional seriousness range” requiring a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment.

Ms Rowland said this was based on the fact Kelly dragged the then 16-year-old girl into an “effective gang rape” at two separate locations.

Addressing the age difference between the teenager and Byrne, the teenager said it involved “unnecessary sexual perversion” as she was raped by both men at the same time. He also spoke of the “serious and lasting impact on the victim”.

Sentencing the men on Wednesday, Mr Justice McDermott described the crime as “disgraceful and insensitive” and caused him extreme damage with physical and mental pain and suffering.

Mr Justice McDermott also referred to the men giving her alcohol and cannabis and leaving her in a vulnerable position, saying: “Each of them knew she was not consenting and each of them took full advantage of this.”

He said the case fell into the exceptional range, before saying a headline sentence of 16 years was appropriate for both men.

His Honor Judge McDermott accepted that Kelly was a young man with a very troubled past and accepted that he had pleaded guilty at an early stage of the trial. He reduced his sentence to 13 years and six months before suspending the final two years.

Sentencing Byrne, Mr Justice McDermott said the woman was clearly much younger than him and was “clearly reluctant and ignored his calls to stop”.

He said there was little mitigation for Byrne. “He testified in court and questioned the veracity of the victim. “He shows no remorse and does not accept the jury’s verdict.”

His Honor Judge McDermott sentenced Byrne to 15 years in prison and ordered him to be placed on post-release supervision for seven years.