The pair admitted the sickening assault on the young girl which was filmed on a mobile phone
Two teenagers were caged for 18 months today for plying a Junior Cert student with vodka and sexually assaulting her.
Harvey Simukonda, from Athlone, Co Westmeath and Jesse Edokpayi, with an address in Dublin, admitted carrying out the sex attacks on the girl while she was drunk.
Sickening video footage - captured by the perverts’ friend - showed the young girl lying semi-unconscious on the floor as Edokpayi subjected her to the vile abuse.
Simukonda sat nearby and watched the abuse unfold.
The thugs , who are now 19, were sentenced to three years in prison with the final 18 months at Galway Circuit Court.
Simukonda pleaded not guilty to rape but guilty to the defilement or statutory rape of the girl while Edokpayi pleaded guilty to sexual assault.
Sergeant Paudie O’Shea gave evidence the victim first met Simunkonda during the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway in 2012.
They arranged to meet three weeks later on August 1 during the Galway Races.
The court heard the victim and her 15-year-old friend went to an apartment that afternoon where they were plied with vodka.
The victim’s friend said in her statement to Gardai later that while the first vodka drink they were given had Coke in it, the second drink was straight vodka.
She did not take the second drink and advised the victim not to drink it either but was ignored.
Later that evening, the victim and her friend told Gardai what had happened and both sex attackers were arrested.
Simunkonda admitted giving the underage victim drink but claimed he had consensual sex with her in the bathroom of the apartment.
The victim denied this in her statement to Gardai and Sgt O’Shea confirmed buttons were missing from her jeans and the zipper broken.
Five separate video clips showed the young girl lying in an unconscious or semiconscious state on the floor while being sexually assaulted by Edokpayi as Simukonda sat and watched nearby.
Evidence was heard that Simunkonda had had sex with the victim in the bathroom at some stage before the sexual assault took place in the bedroom.
Sgt O’Shea confirmed both accused had no previous convictions but that Simunkonda, who is from Malawi, had been issued with a 15-day deportation warning notice in September 2013.
The other accused, he said, was Nigerian.
The victim was not in court due to illness but her mother was present.
In her impact statement, which the sergeant read to the court, the victim said she now suffers from low self-esteem, depression and suicidal tendencies.
Other students in her school found out about what had happened and had made comments to her about it.
She said the prospect of a trial had preyed on her for the two years since the attack and she had felt quite intimidated when she saw both accused in court last July.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Barry White said it was quite clear to see in the video clips the victim was in a paralytic state of intoxication at the time these offences were perpetrated.
He also directed they abstain from alcohol and submit to urine tests by the probation service during that time.
Justice White noted that being on the Sex Offenders Register was another form of punishment for both accused which would continue to affect them for the rest of their lives.
Irish Mirror
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