6YRS FOR SEX WITH GIRL OF 14.

Byline: FIONA FERGUSON

A MAN who had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl he had been exchanging "hundreds" of texts with has been given a six-year sentence.

The 46-year-old, who can not be identified for legal reasons, was found guilty after a seven-day trial in June of sexually assaulting the girl at his home in July 2004.

Judge Desmond Hogan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he had taken account of the age of the man relative to that of his victim.

He said he "had little doubt that the man knew where this was going and should have in the early days desisted from this kind of conduct".

He added the behaviour of the man, who gave the girl alcohol and dropped her some distance from her home in a drunken state after having sex with her, was "certainly not that of a gentleman".

Judge Hogan suspended the final two years of the sentence. The maximum penalty is 14 years.

The court heard from defence counsel Giollaiosa O Lideadha that the man, who has one previous conviction for a road traffic offence, had co-operated with gardai and answered all questions.

Mr O Lideadha said the man had lost his business following the offence and submitted that he had suffered a huge penalty.

He added he had initially been charged with unlawful carnal knowledge but after that legislation was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court he was recharged with the current offence of sexual assault.

Mr O Lideadha said his client accepted that the phone calls and the text messages were "totally wrong" and he "apologises for the fact that he was responsible as the older person for creating the intensity of this relationship".