sentencing adjourned Cork pervert who tried to lure a teenage schoolgirl into giving him oral sex escapes jail sentence

AN X Factor loving pervert who tried to lure a teenage schoolgirl into giving him oral sex has escaped jail.

Corkman Anthony Harris tried to ensnare the teenager by telling her she’d be perfect for the hit television show.

But he was granted the benefit of a one year adjournment of his sentencing on Friday to allow him attend a course that will teach him how to be a benefit to society.

We confronted 58-year-old Harris at his home in Gurranabraher, Cork, last September as he awaited a risk assessment to help the judge decide on a sentence for his sickening antics.

Answering his front door in sunglasses, the balding pervert whined that publicity around his case means he is now embarrassed to show his face on his road.

“I’m out on bail at the moment like,” he told our reporter.

“I’m not a danger to anyone.

“I can’t talk about it.

“It was all in the local paper there and I’m disgraced on the road now, do you know what I mean?

“I’ve a sick mother inside there – I’ve to go.”

Details of Harris’ approaches to the teenage schoolgirl emerged at his initial appearance before Cork District Court.

Sergeant Pat Lyons outlined the facts of the case stating: “A juvenile female made a complaint that while walking to school she was approached between August and November 2019 a number of times by a man.

“She said he said to her, ‘You have a lovely voice, you should be on X Factor.’

“On November 6, 2019, she said he stood in front of her when she was on her way to school and spoke to her about skipping school and going down on him, asking would she kiss him or perform oral sex.

“She walked away. He called her back. She was scared,” Sgt. Lyons said.

When Anthony Harris was questioned he accepted he was the man who was talking to the girl.

In her statement to gardaí, the girl continued that after months of Harris’s unwanted attentions, he made a sexual proposition to her.

Harris appeared before the District Court for sentencing charged with restricting the personal liberty of a child for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act of 1998, any person found guilty of this offence is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

However, as Harris pleaded guilty and his case is before the District Court, the maximum sentence he could have faced is understood to be 12 months and or a fine of €1,800.

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Online Editors