November 2011

Dublin woman who arranged schoolgirl sex is jailed

A woman who sent a schoolgirl to have sex with a 64-year-old man has been jailed for six years.

The man involved in the transaction took his own life three days after police began investigating the allegations.

Mum-of three Remilekun Thomas (39), formerly of Fortlawn Park, Blanchardstown, west Dublin, pleaded guilty to two charges of using a child for the purposes of sexual exploitation at two locations in Dublin on dates between May 1 and 31, 2008.

The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the man paid €50 to the girl for full intercourse on at least six occasions at his home and at another location.

Thomas took this money from the teenager each time, only giving €10 back to her on one occasion.

On another occasion the man paid €100, which Thomas took from the victim in full.

The court heard that Thomas first met the girl in September 2007 at Thomas’s home. She was in third-year of secondary school and was dressed in her school uniform; the victim told Thomas she was 15.

In May 2008, Thomas was working as a prostitute with the deceased man as a client when he asked her to find another “girl” for him to have sex with.

He didn’t specify anything about the girl’s age.

Nigerian-born Thomas told the teenager to go and meet the man and that he would “take care of her”, meaning he would have sex with her.

These meetings continued until the girl’s mother found out and alerted police, who arrested Thomas, initially on a charge of organising prostitution.

Detective Garda John Small told the court that the deceased man had admitted meeting the girl a number of times and paying her €50 to €100 each time for sex.

Kenneth C Fogarty, defending, said his client was a Nigerian national who was now living legally in the State and had three children who were born here. He said she had come here in 2000 and held down a number of jobs — but from 2005 onwards she developed an addiction to cocaine and crack cocaine .

She began to perform sexual acts for money to “feed her habit”.

Speaking directly to Judge Patrick McCartan, Thomas said she was sorry and pleaded for mercy.

She said: “I’m sorry for everything I’ve caused.

“I’m trying to fix my habit. I’m sorry for the shame I have caused the family of the victim.”

After initially pleading guilty earlier this year, Thomas tried to change her plea last May but her application to do so was rejected.

The court heard that the victim came from a stable family.

Judge McCartan said Thomas’s crimes were “particularly disturbing” given the fact the accused was also a mother.

He sentenced her to four years on each count but suspended the last two, noting the fact that she had “not been in trouble” with the gardai before.