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online grooming

Judge asked not to jail Dublin man who had sex with 15-year-old

The man had sex with the girl after chatting with her online using a fake profile.

A MAN WHO had sex with a 15-year-old girl he met after chatting with her online using a fake social media profile will be sentenced early next year.

Conor O’Keefe (26) set up a profile as a teenage girl called “Julie” on the website Tagged.com and started chatting with the 15-year-old victim.

He later claimed he was Julie’s older brother “Adam” and persuaded the girl to get a taxi to his house in the early hours of the morning where they had sex.

O’Keefe of Oakdale Close, Ballycullen pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sex with a child in July 2011. He was found guilty of a further count of sexual exploitation of a child by a jury last month following a three day trial.

The court heard today that O’Keefe’s partner had given birth to their first child yesterday.

O’Keefe, an apprentice plumber, has no previous convictions and is now on the sex offenders register. He was 22 years old at the time of the offences.

Defence counsel Damien Colgan SC handed in a probation report and a psychological report. He asked the court to consider non-custodial options.

Judge Sarah Berkeley adjourned sentencing until 12 January next to allow her consider the case.

O’Keefe faces a maximum possible sentence of 14 years imprisonment on these charges.

Comments have been closed as legal proceedings are still under way. 

Read: Man jailed for six years for raping his wife

Author
Fiona Ferguson and Conor Gallagher