Talk:Attorney General v X

Untitled
This note made on reverting a (very ugly) change inserted by 193.1.172.163 (carrigvore.ucd.ie) on May 05 2006.

The edit identified the pregnancy as being as a result of "consensual sex", and that there was "no suggestion of impropriety". The first response to this is that Irish law at the time did not accept that a girl under 15 could give proper consent, and therefore such sex was automatically a rape. The wording of the law was widely regarded as being vulnerable to legal challenge, and a Supreme Court judgement ruled it unconstitutional in April 2006. A week later, somebody changes the entry. Hey, they've thrown out the law the man was jailed under, so it must have been okay, right? The second point is that the man's (the father of the girl's best friend) response was to try and pin the blame on a local youth. No "suggestion of impropriety"? The DNA test was specifically to prove he was responsible, the Gardai were told in advance specifically to ensure that the chain of evidence would be preserved.

Sigh. There's a huge political outcry at the moment (1/06/2006), the Dail has skipped a break to deal with it, the Minister has replacement legislation in the works for this weekend, after which this kind of behaviour will again be rape.

Oh, and Mr. Carrigvore can't spell 'preganant' or 'consentual'. 161.111.166.114 18:11, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Good job on the corrections. Is it publicly known what happened to the neighbour? Was any DNA evidence from the miscarried foetus used against him? Perhaps that isn't relevant in this article though.--Dub8lad1 19:47, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The article states that the girl had a miscarriage, making an abortion unnecessary. But that is not what is reported in the NY times in article "After Court Ruling, Irish Girl Gets an Abortion in England" March 7, 1992 (inter alia): --- The 14-year-old girl at the heart of a crisis that bitterly divided Ireland had an abortion in England, police officials said today. The officials, who insisted on anonymity, said samples of amniotic fluid had been taken for possible use in a rape prosecution. Blood samples have also been taken from the man accused in the rape, the father of a friend of the girl. Results of the genetic fingerprinting tests are expected within five weeks.

Regarding the perpetrator, NY Times March 15, 1992 reported in article " An Irish Judge Fuels Debate Over Abortion":

... last June the man, who has never been identified, was convicted of unlawful carnal knowledge and indecent assault, and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Today, a Criminal Court of Appeals Judge, Hugh O'Flaherty, reduced the sentence to four years, explaining that no duress had been used, that the case was not one of rape, and that the man was contrite and unlikely to repeat such crimes.

69.19.14.23 00:18, 19 February 2007 (UTC)