I am a proud Irish person and I love this country but there are times when the backwards way this place can sometimes be run that hurts my head and my heart.

This is one such time.

The headline says it all: Sex attacker to avoid jail if he pays teenage victim €15,000

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/1018/1224325414489.html

So I feel like the Irish courts have basically sold a young girl's sexual assualt to this man. How much to buy a rape? How much to be sold into sex slavery? And what if there are significantly wealthy people out there who have a penchant for sexual assault? Have they been given a carte blanche to go out and attack?

I really do not know or understand what the judge in this case could have been thinking. I have never heard of anything like this happening in Ireland before and I can't bear the thought that it could again. If this sets a precedent for abusers paying off victims to avoid jail time then I can't live with that.