THE parents of a 14-year-old Muslim girl, forced to leave the family home for having sex with a 35-year-old man, have told gardai they are disowning their child.

The girl, who is currently in care of the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), was thrown out of her West Dublin home after she admitted to having sex with the man, whom she met through a mobile phone text-and-date service.

The teenager’s devout parents were so upset that they ordered her to leave home, even though, because of her age, she is the victim of statutory rape.

Last week gardai in Blanchardstown and childcare officials met the girl’s parents but could not convince them to take her back.

“They say what she has done goes against all their religious beliefs,” said a senior officer.

“It is not unusual for parents to throw their daughter out of the home in these circumstances,” said Leslie Carter, an Irish Muslim and a women’s officer for the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin.

“She has lost her virginity before marriage and that is a source of deep shame for any practising Muslim family. Chastity is fundamental in Islam. The shame of people knowing must be intolerable for them.

It depends on each family how they react, but for some, the disgrace of a daughter losing her virginity before marriage is just too much to bear.”

Detectives confirmed that the man at the centre of the rape allegation has admitted to having sex with the girl on more than one occasion.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met the man in the car park of Cabra garda station after six months of text messages and phone calls. They met on four occasions before going to a well-known hotel to have sex.

“The man is from Co Galway,” said the officer. “It seems he became obsessed with this dating service and was seeing at least four women. He has admitted having sex with the girl, but is claiming he didn’t know she was underage. Obviously, ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

Modern dating techniques are frowned upon by Ireland’s Muslim elders. Earlier this year, a chaperoned singles event aimed at introducing Irish Muslims to prospective marriage partners was cancelled.

Some 50 Muslim men and women were due to take part but it was called off after Muslin elders claimed the match-making dinner was “the work of the devil”.

A Dublin-based female doctor claimed she was warned by mosque leaders that she and her family would have to find another mosque if they went to the dating event.

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Ireland. The number of Muslims in the republic quadrupled from less than 400 in 1991 to almost 20,000 in 2002, according to the latest census figures. There are an estimated 3,200 Muslims living in Northern Ireland. Each week, conversion ceremonies — for Irish and other nationals who want to convert to Islam — are held at Dublin’s Clonskeagh mosque.

Blanchardstown detectives have almost completed their investigation and a file is being prepared for the DPP, which confirmed that the man’s home was searched last Friday and a computer and mobile phones were seized. They are to be examined by forensic experts.

The man does not have a criminal record and this incident may never have come to light if the girl had not told her parents. He was tracked down through mobile phone records and gardai have logs of many of the texts he sent the girl.

“Their stories on how they met are different,” said the officer. She claims she received a load of unsolicited messages from his phone, while he says he came across her number on a text-and-date service.”

The girl is expected to go back to school next week while gardai continue their efforts to return her to her parents.

Text-and-date services are advertised in the national press and on the internet. Though they are supposed to be adult only, there are no controls in place to stop a child using them.For €2, users text a phone number and are then “matched” with other subscribers.

Joe Costello, Labour’s spokesman on justice, has criticised the lack of security in place for such services that are accessible by minors.

“This can’t be allowed to continue without some mechanism to monitor calls,” said Costello. “We have to make sure young people are not exposed to danger.”

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