Man jailed for two years for raping 16-year-old

Paul Kearns (24) pleaded guilty to raping the girl in September 2002 when, strangers to each other before the incident, they were both drunk.At an earlier hearing he had denied additional counts of procuring the victim to commit an act of gross indecency as well as indecently assaulting her – pleas which the Crown accepted.Crown Advocate Julian Gollop sought a five-year sentence, but on behalf of Kearns, Advocate William Grace argued that two years were appropriate in the circumstances.He said that prior to the offence everything which happened between Kearns and the young woman had been consensual and sexually intense.Announcing the court’s sentence, Commissioner Francis Hamon told Kearns that he had behaved in a cowardly and callous way.