Child psychiatrist jailed for sexual abuse and grooming of teen girl

A child child psychiatrist  has been jailed for eight and a half years from grooming and sexually abusing a teenage girl, RTÉ reports. 

that 38-year-old Amirul Arif Bin Mohd Yunos, of Hollystown, Dublin 15, committed the offences while he was employed in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) centre in Clonskeagh. 

Although the teenage girl was not formally a patient of Yunos, he was known to her parents who asked for his help as the girl was experiencing mental health difficulties.

The offences took place in 2023 when the girl was aged between 15 and 16 years of age with the greater part of the abuse taking place when she was 15.

Sentencing Judge Ms. Justice Orla Crowe said that Yunos was “very fortunate his community and wife have stood by him, describing the effects on the girl as “very grave”. 

The court heard that the victim, now aged 17, is suffering ‘painful and grave trauma’ and that she had believed that the abuse was her own fault and that she “deserved” it. 

Saying that she had believed that a “good man” had abused her she said that, “He made me believe the hugs I needed during a tough time led to sexual abuse,”. 

The girl said that her younger self had “never wanted” to be abused and that all she wished for at the time was to “get better”. 

“In hindsight, that 15-year-old got handed a lifelong sentence of unwanted trauma.” she said. 

Judge Crowe said of Yunos that,  “He had qualified in this country and had been training in the area of psychology. He would have and ought to have been better placed than most,”.

She added that he should therefore have had “greater insight” into the kind of trauma his actions would cause the girl. 

Yunos was jailed for eight and a half years after a headline sentence of twelve years was reduced in mitigation when factors such as his early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, and expressions of remorse were taken into account.