A WEST Belfast man who raped a 12-year-old girl and got her pregnant has been jailed for ten-and-a-half months.
Conaire Adams-Whyte (20), from Crocus Street off the Springfield Road, pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court to a single charge of raping the schoolgirl in the bedroom of his home on a date unknown between June 30, 2015 and August 1, 2015.
Prosecution counsel Jackie Qrr QC told the court that on September 29, 2015, police received a report that a 12-year-old girl was pregnant.
The police later met the schoolgirl at her home and she told officers that the father was Conaire Adams-Whyte and she showed officers a number of messages she had received from the father on Facebook.
During a later interview, the girl told police that "things just started to happen" when they were in his mother's house.
She told police she did not say 'no' or tell him to stop.
When arrested on October 1, 2015 Adams-Whyte denied having sexual intercourse with the girl.
In April 2016, the baby boy was born and a DNA sample was taken from the child which was a match to the defendant.
He was again arrested and when told that he was the father of child, the prosecution counsel said Adams-Whyte "was speechless''.
The defendant said he had been out celebrating his 19th birthday earlier that evening, he had been drhnking but was not drunk, had taken Diazepam tablets and had little recollection of the night.
The court was told that a victim impact report said that the 12-year-old child was not suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
It added that she was receiving support from a "loving mother'' and her family along with social services as she copes with bringing up a child now as a 14-year-old.
The Probation Service assessed Adams-Whyte as a medium likelihood of reoffending but he was not assessed as posing a danger to the public of causing serious harm in the future.
Judge Patricia Smyth told Adams-Whyte: "You have expressed shame for your offending and you agree that you took advantage of the situation.
"I am taking into account the fact that your a vulnerable young man with cognitive difficulties.
"You were exposed to inappropriate influences which may explain your sexualisation as a young child yourself and in my view I find it likely that this contributed to this offending.
"If it were not for that fact I would have imposed a sentence of two years. In all the circumstances the appropriate determinate sentence is one of 21 months with 10 and a half months in custody and 10 and a half months on licence.''
Adams-Whyte was placed on the sex offenders list for 10 years, barred from working with children and was told by the judge he maybe barred from vulnerable people.
He was also made the subject of five year Sexual Offenders Prevention Order.
A spokeswoman for NSPCC Northern Ireland said: "Adams-Whyte took advantage of a vulnerable child, and the result of his actions will have a lifelong impact on his victim and her family. Today’s verdict has rightly seen him face justice for what he has done.
"Child sexual abuse can often remain hidden in the shadows, with victims unable to speak up and get help. We want to encourage anyone who has experienced abuse to find the courage to seek help now, and this verdict sends a clear message that perpetrators of child abuse will feel the force of the law."
