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.