Journalist Humphries' sex abuse sentence criticised

Tom Humphries, who wrote for the Irish Times, admitted abusing a girl under the age of 17

Tom Humphries, a journalist with the Irish Times, was hugely respected and widely regarded as one of the best sports writers of his generation.

That respect could be seen in the character references he got from the acclaimed Sunday Times sports writer, David Walsh, and the famous Cork hurling goalkeeper, Dónal Óg Cusack.

David Walsh's dogged and successful pursuit of the cycling drugs cheat Lance Armstrong was ultimately made into the 2015 movie, The Program.

Both men have emphasised that their references in no way condoned what Humphries did with the Cork hurler now saying his reference showed "a lack of judgement".

David Walsh said a radio interview he gave about the Humphries case five years ago was "insensitive and ill-judged".

• Former sports writer jailed for abuse

During his trial, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Humphries, 54, had exchanged at least 16,000 texts messages with the girl over a three-month period leading up to March 2011.

That averages nearly 178 a day.

Gardaí (Irish police) began their investigation after his daughter discovered sexually explicit material relating to the case on his phone, which he had given to her to donate to charity, and reported the matter to her mother who was estranged from Humphries at the time.

Humphries, a volunteer coach and mentor at a GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) club in Dublin, began grooming the girl, who played camogie, when she was 14 and engaged in sexual acts with her when she was 16.

'Lost childhood'

In her powerful victim impact statement, she said she had lost her childhood because of her ordeal.

"I had to deal with sexual encounters at such a young age with a man three times my age, which made me physically, emotionally and mentally ill," she added.

The court earlier heard that Humphries, who pleaded guilty, had apologised and was suicidal as a result of his actions.

His victim had refused to open his letter of apology.

Sentencing him Judge Karen O'Connor said the offences deserved a "headline sentence" of four years in jail.

However, she said that in taking into account mitigating factors including Humphries' previous high-profile and subsequent fall she would reduce the sentence by 18 months.

She added: "It would be difficult not to have sympathy for him. That's not to excuse his behaviour."

Judge criticised

But the sentence has been widely criticised by campaigners.

Noeleen Blackwell, the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said it seemed to show an inappropriate level of empathy for the perpetrator and an insufficient level of sympathy for the victim.

Mary Flaherty, the chief executive of Children at Risk, said she found "amazing" the suggestion that if he had a lower public profile he would have got a higher sentence.

The case has been widely covered on radio programmes with several callers wondering what might have been the reaction if the sentence had been delivered by a male judge.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has the power to appeal against the sentence but it is unclear if that might happen.