A judge has been asked not to jail a man who had sex with a teenage girl after grooming her through a fake social media account.

Conor O'Keefe of Oakdale Close, Ballycullen in Dublin struck up a friendship with her by pretending to be a 13-year-old girl called 'Julie'.

Tagged.com describes itself as "the social network for meeting new people".

O;Keefe’s victim was just 15 when she joined the site during the summer of 2011.

She added 'Julie' as a friend and agreed to speak to her 22-year-old brother 'Adam', who convinced her to get a taxi to his place where they had sex in the early hours of July 30th 2011.

Gardaí became involved when the girl's mother found out what happened - and Mr O'Keefe admitted setting up the fake account and having sex with the girl, but denied grooming her online, a charge he was convicted of last month.

Today, his defence barrister pleaded with Judge Sarah Berkeley not to jail the now 26-year-old.

The court heard he is now the father of a baby boy, who was only born yesterday - a development which complicates matters according to Judge Berkeley.

O’Keefe was remanded on continuing bail today and is due to be sentenced on January 12th.