Concerning the rape, the child said it ‘felt horrible’, that it hurt her and that despite telling Harkness to stop ‘over and over again’, he told her to be quiet and continued
A Cookstown man convicted by a jury of multiple offences including raping a nine-year old child was handed a 13-year sentence today.
As he imposed the sentence upon Jason Harkness, Judge Brian Sherrard told him that despite his continued claims of innocence, the offences he committed indicated he had a “deviant sexual interest in children”.
From Drum Road, the 31-year old was sentenced for a total of 15 offences. These included raping and both sexually and physically assaulting the girl as well as possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images.
He was sentenced at Dungannon Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, by Judge Sherrard who divided the 13-year sentence equally between prison and supervised licence.
Harkness stood trial in Dungannon last year and, despite his claims that the young victim was making up allegations against him, he was convicted by a jury in November 2024.
During the trial, the jury heard how his offending emerged when the child, who is not related to Harkness, became upset during a well-being lesson in school in September 2021 and made disclosures to a teacher.
An investigation was launched and in December 2021 the child spoke to the PSNI when she outlined the abuse she has suffered over a period from 2019 to 2021. This included being sexually abused and being raped when she was aged nine.
Harkness was arrested on March 9, 2022 and during a search of his home, officers seized a number of electronic devices. When these were examined, officers located over 1,000 indecent images as well four extreme pornographic images.
During two separate interviews with police in March an October 2022, Harkness denied any wrong-doing against the child and made no comment to questions asked about the images found on the devices.
He subsequently stood trial last year and during the hearing, the young child was called to give evidence. She outlined how Harkness assaulted her and threatened her with further violence when she complained about the sexual abuse.
Concerning the rape when she was aged nine, the child said it ‘felt horrible’, that it hurt her and that despite telling Harkness to stop ‘over and over again’, he told her to be quiet and continued – and that afterwards he gave her Roblox credits.
After deliberating for four hours, the jury returned unanimously guilty verdicts on all 15 charges levelled at Harkness.
He was back in court for sentencing today, where Judge Sherrard told him that despite his continued pleas of innocence he “clearly has a deviant sexual interest in children” and that he used the victim to fulfil his “deviant sexual needs.”
In addition to the sentence imposed, Judge Sherrard told Harkness he will be on the Sex Offenders Register and will be the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Both of these court orders are for an indefinite period.
