National: Chef who groomed and defiled teenage girl jailed for four years

A chef who groomed a teenager he met online before sending her “brutal” and “extreme” pornography and sexually defiling her has been jailed for four years.

Adam Winters, now 32, met the teenager on an online dating site in 2012 when she was just 14 years' old and he was 21 and working as a chef, the Central Criminal Court heard.

He became aware of her age but started a sexualised conversation with her anyway and soon started sending her video links to pornography that was described in court as “brutal, extreme and revolting”.

Winters would instruct the girl to watch the pornography and then ask her if she would be willing to carry out the acts, which included bondage, pain, urination and blood-letting, Detective Garda Noelle McSweeney told John O'Kelly SC, prosecuting.

During the online relationship, which lasted until 2018, Winters met the girl on two occasions, during which he had her give him oral sex.

Winters, with an address at Blackhall, Glynn, Co Wexford, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually defiling the girl at locations in Cork and Waterford on dates between April 2013 and April 2014.

One count related to the defilement of a child under the age of 15, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The second count related to the defilement of a child under the age of 17, which carries a maximum seven-year sentence.

Imposing sentence this Thursday, Mr Justice David Keane said he would first like to acknowledge the injured party and her determination in reporting this matter and wish her well for the future.

Judge Keane said he must have regard to the following aggravating factors: the age disparity of seven years between the defendant and the complainant, the element of grooming that was clearly present in this case and the psychological damage caused to the injured party.

The judge said he had carefully considered the contents of the probation report and the defendant's guilty plea, and as a result of this plea, the injured party was spared the ordeal of giving evidence at trial. He commented that the defendant is entitled to significant credit for his lack of previous convictions and his cooperation with the gardaí.

Judge Keane said that the defendant is now in his thirties and is answering to offences committed in his twenties. Referencing a letter which was handed into the court, he Winters has shown remorse.

Concurrent prison sentences, totalling six years' imprisonment, were imposed by the judge who said he “must consider if any of this sentence should have a suspended element.”

In doing so, he said the defendant has been assessed by probation services and has been deemed suitable for post-release supervision. He suspended the final two years of the sentence and placed Winters under the supervision of probation services for two years.

He outlined to the defendant that he must follow all directions as indicated by the probation services.

In her victim impact statement, which she read out at an earlier hearing, the complainant – now in her early twenties -  said there were no words to describe how much the man affected her. She said he tore her away from her family, and she became obsessed with keeping him happy.

“Ten years of abuse and mental health (difficulties) truly nearly killed me,” she said.

She said she struggled with anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation while blaming herself for what was done to her. “I was so young, and when I was finally old and mature enough to understand, it was all too much,” she said.

The woman said that despite what the man put her through, she was a believer in forgiveness. “It's something you need to be able to do to move on,” she said.

“He may have taken my childhood, my womanhood, but I forgive him,” she said. “All I want today is justice for the years I suffered and the trauma I will have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

The woman said she had read a letter of apology Winters had written to her and she said she could accept it, except for the part where he wrote he “didn't mean to hurt (her).”

“He did mean to hurt me,” she said, “...but I can forgive and move on.”

Prosecuting counsel said that Winters met the girl in a carpark in April 2013 and again in a hotel on a date between April 2013 and April 2014. On each occasion, he had the girl give him oral sex, slapping her breasts on one occasion.

When arrested by gardaí in 2021, Winters admitted that the messages between him and the girl were “seedy”, but he maintained they were flirtatious rather than laden with sexual innuendo. He has no previous convictions and is still working as a chef, the court heard.

Colman Cody SC, defending, handed in the letter of apology from his client along with a number of testimonials. He submitted his client had engaged in grooming and exploitative behaviour towards the girl and that he took advantage of her understandable teenage wish to have a boyfriend.

“Mr Winters was cognisant of her age and her vulnerabilities, and he exploited them,” Mr Cody said.

He said Winters has undergone cognitive behavioural therapy to start to address his issues, that he has matured in the ten years since this offending took place, and now has a child. He has acquired insight and understanding as to the seriousness of his offending, the court heard.