Our reporter Jim (right) confronts paedo Carvin
A paedophile who sexually abused a seven-year-old girl is living in a city centre B&B surrounded by children.
Sex beast John Carvin, who escaped a jail sentence last year for assaulting his brother’s stepdaughter, is being put up by social welfare in Dublin’s city centre.
The Sunday World tracked down the 46-year-old pervert this week and asked if he wanted to apologise to his devastated victim Stephanie Phoenix.
But the brute, who was walking hand in hand with his wife down a packed city centre street, did not open his mouth and rushed into a nearby shopping centre.
Carvin’s case caused uproar last June when he was given a three-year jail sentence suspended in full for three years.
Judge Patrick McCartan said the abuse was at the lower end of the scale and that Carvin had eventually admitted the attack after first pleading not guilty
There were emotional scenes in court when one of the victim’s family fled the courtroom in tears after the non-custodial sentence was handed down.
At an earlier hearing the judge asked the victim, who was then aged 20, to meet her attacker as part of the Restorative Justice Programme before he passed sentence.
He suggested the programme because “this is a close family that is badly fractured by what has occurred” and he hoped “some reparation of the family relationship might be achieved”.
He added: “If there is a prospect that this can be put right then this might well be an option that is worth exploring.”
But the victim declined to meet Carvin. She also waived her right to anonymity so he could be publicly named.
Carvin’s trial heard how he was sleeping in a room next to Stephanie on the night of the abuse. He entered her room and climbed into the seven-year-old’s bed and began kissing and rubbing her.
John Carvin
He left, but returned shortly afterwards and made her carry out a sexual act on him. He then told her “to get on top”, but she refused and he fell asleep. He was later discovered in the bed by another family member who ordered him out.
Carvin was convicted in April last year of sexual assault, but was acquitted of abusing her on two other occasions between October 2000 and February 2001.
Judge McCartan said Carvin had forced the victim to go through a trial by refusing to admit his guilt.
He noted the defendant had “challenged very strongly” the victim’s version of events, effectively calling her a liar.
In a victim impact statement the woman, who first told police about the abuse in 2010, said she suffered stress and anxiety as the trial approached. She had nightmares about the abuse and the trial, including dreaming that the judge would shout at her and tell her she was lying.
Carvin’s barrister Caroline Biggs told the court her client had married in 2010 and had the support of his wife.
He also had a good work record. She said the offence seemed to be a one-off and was at the lower end of the scale.Carvin was forced out of his home in Holywell Crescent, Swords, two months after the trial when locals discovered his identity. His walls were daubed with the word “paedophile.”
Disgusted locals held a protest outside the house opposite a playground.
One local father of four said: “People are mad he didn’t go to jail. He wasn’t properly punished. It’s a disgrace.”
The house was boarded up after being attacked and it was thought Carvin had moved to Balbriggan, close to the home of his victim.
Stephanie wrote on Facebook:
“Who does he think he is living five minutes up the road from me? Just goes to show he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“He should be locked up, not walking the streets. He is a convicted paedophile and shouldn’t be free on the streets. I don’t want him in Balbriggan.”
The victim revealed that the abuse destroyed her childhood and that she had never had a boyfriend.
“I thought I was going to get justice but there was none.”