Man, 28, convicted of rape in Roscommon told victim ‘age is just a number’

The victim was 16 at the time and was socialising and drinking alcohol in a park with her friends when the man and his friend joined them

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A man who raped a teenage girl in a park after plying her with alcohol and telling her “age is just a number” has been jailed for five and a half years.

Nicolas Horvath, 28, formerly of Stonecourt, Roscommon, Co Roscommon, pleaded guilty to one count of rape on December 11, 2020. He has been in custody since he was extradited from Slovakia in 2022.

The victim was 16 at the time and was socialising and drinking alcohol in a park with her friends when the man and his friend joined them. They were unknown to each other prior to this, the court heard.

Horvath and his friend got more alcohol, and the group continued to drink. He started talking to the girl, who told him she was 16. He replied, “Age is just a number”, and encouraged her to drink more alcohol.

A local garda told Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, that the conversation became sexual, with the man asking the girl if she “would like sex with two dicks” and if she liked “big dicks”.

One of her female friends found them, and Horvath got up when she shone the torch on her phone at them.

The victim later told her mother, and a complaint was then made to gardaí. They searched Horvath’s home a few days later, seizing items of clothing which matched CCTV.

Horvath left the jurisdiction shortly after and has been in custody since he was extradited back to Ireland in December 2022 on a European Arrest Warrant.

Imposing sentence on Friday, Ms Justice Melanie Greally said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case, including the fact the man was aware of the youth of the girl and the age difference between them, that there was an element of sexual exploitation in the crime and that he used alcohol to impair her judgment.