NI man who sent sexual messages to young girl is spared jail to allow probation order for similar offence to continue

https://belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ni-man-who-sent-sexual-messages-to-young-girl-is-spared-jail-to-allow-probation-order-for-similar-offence-to-continue/a965795070.html

A Co Tyrone man who admitted sending multiple sexualised messages to a young girl has been spared jail because he is already on probation for similar offending.

Jack Edward Dougherty appeared before Dungannon Crown Court where an additional three-year probation order was imposed on him.

Judge Brian Sherard emphasised that the timing of the various offences overlapped as the 29-year-old, from Lisnaragh Road in Donemana, is already subject to a probation order.

He said it was his “strong feeling” that the earlier probation order should continue — and be added to — because “it is more important than ever that our community is protected from further offending”.

The parallel probation orders, the judge explained, would ensure that protection by securing Dougherty’s rehabilitation.

At an earlier hearing, the defendant entered guilty pleas to four charges of sexual communication with a child, in that between September 30, 2021, and January 1, 2022, he “intentionally communicated with a person under 16, the communication being sexual or intended to encourage the said person to make a communication that was sexual, and you did not reasonably believe that she was 16 or over”.

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During a plea and sentence hearing on Friday, Judge Sherard outlined how the 15-year-old victim told her mother in January 2022 that the defendant had been “sending her sexual communications”.

Those messages, the court heard, involved Dougherty talking about masturbation and sending a picture of his penis.

With the teenage victim and her mum watching proceedings by videolink, Judge Sherard said: “I have seen a statement from the victim in this case and I acknowledge the very significant impact that this has had upon her.”

“While, of course, these are not contact offences, that does not mean that they are not exceptionally serious,” Judge Sherard told the court, adding that he was keeping in mind guidance from the Court of Appeal that “exploitation of children must be met with proper sentencing”.

In coming to that “proper sentencing”, Judge Sherard said matters he was taking into consideration included the fact that Dougherty has “supportive parents” and that, while the defendant has previous convictions for sexual communication with a child and having indecent images of children, the offences “straddle” each other.

In that previous case, Dougherty was made the subject of a probation order, and the judge said the timing was “of key significance”.

“Given the timing of your offending and the work that is clearly ongoing with probation, I will allow that work to continue,” Judge Sherard ruled, explaining that he believed it was the best way to protect the public.

Imposing a three-year probation order, he emphasised that such an order “is not nothing… It will apply considerable restraints and restrictions on your liberty.”

“You will be expected to abide by all of the instructions of the probation officer, and that may include conditions as to where you live and the medical or psychological treatment that you undergo,” Judge Sherard told Dougherty, warning that if there was any failure to comply, “you will be sent back here and resentenced as if today never happened”.

In addition to the probation period, Judge Sherard imposed a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

Speaking after the hearing, however, the victim’s mum said their entire family “think the sentence is completely wrong”.

“It’s as if we went through all the years of this hanging over us, dragging on and being… looked down on by others in the community, all for him to just keep on a continuing probation order.

“Sitting with her, watching the court… that outcome was absolutely heart-breaking. It was abuse and torture all over again but on a completely different level. Because this time, it was coming from supposedly educated people who are supposed to punish according to the crime and keep victims safe, but not in this case.

“Meanwhile, my daughter is suffering all the time and will continue to do so. It seems, for some reason, that the courts have been more than lenient to him, but we just want people to know the truth — that he has done wrong and has caused a lot of grief… but it’s my daughter who was telling the truth.

“I’ll never forgive him for what he’s done.”

Judges are bound by sentencing guidelines and must take into account mitigating circumstances, such as early guilty pleas, co-operation with police and remorse, as well as aggravating factors, such as intent and excessive violence.