Gerard McKenna and Paul Sheridan jailed for abducting and raping girl, 12, on Lagan towpath

Two men who abducted and raped a 12-year-old vulnerable girl were handed jail sentences totalling 15-and-a-half years on Friday.

Gerard McKenna, 30, was handed a nine-year sentence by Judge Patrick Lynch KC, while his co-accused Paul Sheridan, 25, was given a six-and-a-half year sentence.

The Craigavon Crown Court judge explained the difference in sentencing was down to the fact that while McKenna denied the offences and still remains “highly confident” that he will be acquitted on appeal, Sheridan admitted his guilt and “did not subject the victim to any further humiliation".

Following a two week trial in May last year, McKenna reacted furiously after he was convicted by a jury while Sheridan entered guilty pleas almost a year ago.

McKenna, originally from the Whiterock area of west Belfast, but who has been in Maghaberry since the incident, was unanimously convicted of raping and sexually assaulting the 12-year-old victim and of sexual activity with a second victim who was 15 at the time, offering to supply class A cocaine and two counts of child abduction on the same date.

Sheridan, with an address at Hillfoot Crescent in Ballynahinch, entered guilty pleas to two counts of raping a child under 13, two counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13 and two counts of child abduction.

On 23 December 2019, that the two pair abducted and raped the then 12-year-old girl and Sheridan sexually assaulted her 15-year-old friend.

The jury heard during McKenna’s trial that despite being told that the youngest girl was only 12 years old, McKenna reacted aggressively with a “so f***” and as they got to the Lagan towpath, he “held her hand and kissed her” before sexually assaulting her with his hand and having sex with her.

Sheridan also kissed the girl and sexually assaulted the girl, while his sexual assault of the older girl was when he kissed her in the middle of a Spar shop in Lisburn.

During the harrowing incident, the jury also heard how the pair gave the vulnerable young girls vodka mixed with lemonade and although the girls were offered cocaine, they refused the class A drug.

Sheridan was not tried alongside McKenna as due to perceived threats against him, he went on the run and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

During his trial McKenna launched several expletive laden insults at Crown counsel but he topped it all off with a foul mouth tirade at the jury who convicted him.

As Judge Lynch was thanking the jury for their services, McKenna swore and directed insults at them.

“There’s only one low life scum here and everybody knows who that is,” Judge Lynch told him.

In court on Friday during the judge’s 35 minute sentencing remarks where the defendants appeared by videolink from prison, Sheridan sat seemingly impassive while McKenna appeared agitated, more interested in looking at his watch and fixing the collar of his red polo shirt.

Judge Lynch said one of the issues he had to address was whether the defendants were dangerous offenders and to that end, he revealed that both had multiple precious convictions and both had been assessed as posing a significant risk of causing serious harm.

He revealed that at the time of the assaults Sheridan, who has 21 previous convictions, was on licence for a serious robbery where he had tied up and robbed a vulnerable victim, while McKenna has 45 previous convictions including entries for actual bodily harm, assault, harassment and breaching court orders - most of them committed against women in a domestic setting.

Neither man, said the judge, showed any great insight into the damaging effects of their offending and were instead caught in a cycle of drink and drug abuse.

As regards the effect of the rape and sexual assaults, Judge Lynch said he had read the victim impact statement from May last year where she outlined how the incident “broke me” and that McKenna “stole my innocence and virginity,” leaving her “scared and afraid”.

Quoting from her statement, the judge told the court: “He forced me to view the world as a dangerous place, filled with people who can hurt me like he did.

"What did I do to deserve this? No one has the right to do to me what he did. I was excited for Christmas, not knowing the nightmare that was to be my life.”

The offences themselves, said the judge, had numerous aggravating factors including the age and vulnerabilities of the girls, that she was raped by both men who knew her age yet “took advantage of that” and that the rape victim was given alcohol and its “consequent disinheriting effect.”

Judge Lynch concluded he was satisfied that both men were dangerous so in imposing their respective jail sentences, he orders that when they are eventually released, they will be subject to an extra three years under supervised licence conditions.

While he declined to impose sexual offences Prevention Orders, he ordered that McKenna and Sheridan will sign the police sex offenders register “for an indefinite period.”

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