Connacht Tribune
Father of six bragged of sex with schoolgirl
A father of six bragged to another man that he was having sex with a 16-year-old schoolgirl while showing him pictures of her in provocative poses which he had taken on his phone.
Dubliner Paul Devlin (51), who now resides at Quinaltagh, Garrafrauns, Dunmore, also showed the man a very short white mini-shirt, bragging the girl wore if for him every time he had sex with her.
Devlin began to cry when unanimously found guilty by a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court 23 charges involving the defilement of a child aged under 17 years of age, and a further eight charges of defilement by getting the girl to perform oral sex on him on numerous dates over an 18-month period, between 2009 and 2010.
He was led away in handcuffs from the courtroom by two prison officers, to await sentence on November 29.
Proseucting barrister Conor Fahy told jurors at the start of the trial the complainant was aged between 15 and 17 when the abuse began ten years ago.
“She alleges she had sexual intercourse with him and, on occasion, oral sexual intercourse and the law states that it’s a criminal offence for a male adult person to do that to an underage girl.
“The issue of consent does not apply in such an offence involving a child.
“The fact that she may and did consent to sexual intercourse while she was aged between 15 and 17 is irrelevant in criminal law because she was a child and the law is there to protect young girls from predatory men,” Mr Fahy explained.
The two-week trial heard evidence Devlin met the girl through his 15-year-old son on St. Patrick’s Day, 2009.
The then 42-year-old father of six began texting the girl shortly after that.
He arranged to pick her up near her school or meet her in carparks two to three times a week before driving her to remote locations in Connemara to have sex with her.
He told her he liked her in the miniskirt she was wearing when he first met her and asked if he could have it.
She gave it to him on one of their trips to Connemara, and he got her to wear it every time they had sex after that.
On one such trip to Connemara in 2010, when the girl was 16, Devlin took photos of her scantily-clad body, draped across the bonnet of his car and in other suggestive poses.
The court heard he also had sex with her regularly in his own home and had supplied her with cigarettes and alcohol. He had bought her cheap presents and jewellery.
He told Gardaí she bought him a Father’s Day mug and he still had it.
Jurors heard Devlin had unprotected sex with the girl, and had hoped to get her pregnant so that she would have to move into his home where he would have complete control over her.
In his closing speech to the jury, Conor Fahy BL, prosecuting, said a single word summed up the photos shown to the jury and that word was ‘sad’, as they depicted a young, vulnerable child being exploited by a mature, married man for his own sexual gratification.
When asked on the second day of the trial what had she to say, looking back now, about having had consensual sex with the man ten years ago, the 25-year-old woman replied:
“I don’t know what to say. It wasn’t right, but I couldn’t give up the attention and looking-after that I had from him and it just kills me now to think of it.”
She became upset at one point while telling jurors: “We had sex two to three times a week from April 2009, up until I was 17.”
The abuse came to light when the accused bragged about his underage sexual activity to a ‘horrified’ male friend.
The man reported the abuse and the victim then came forward and made a series of statements to Gardaí.
She revealed to Sergeant Patricia Grady, who investigated the matter, that Devlin had taken compromising photos of her on his phone in 2010.
Devlin denied all of the allegations when questioned, telling Gardaí the girl was a liar. He said he always knew her age as she was the same age as his son and that he had tried to be her friend because he knew she was vulnerable and was having problems at home.
Gardaí confiscated the phone as described by the girl, during a search of Devlin’s home and found the compromising photos still stored on it.
They proved to the Gardaí – and to the jury – that the girl was telling the truth.
Devlin continued to deny the girl’s claims, saying another man had taken the photos.
Jurors took just 90 minutes to reach their unanimous guilty verdict on all charges and Devlin was led away in handcuffs crying.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
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