A Sligo (northwest Ireland) man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and told to stay away from his stepdaughter forever after being convicted of repeated rape and sexual abuse from the time she was four years old.
The now 17-year-old victim, who reported the abuse to gardaí in July 2011, told officers the man raped her the night her grandmother died and when she came home early during her Junior Certificate exams.
The teenager left the family home in 2011 and has been in full-time foster care since.
She stated in her victim impact report that she was very close to her grandmother and she couldn’t separate the memory of her death from that rape.
The 36-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the teenager, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 11 sample charges of rape, oral rape and sexual assault from 2000 to July 2011.
He has been in custody since he pleaded guilty just before his trial last July when he was registered as a sex offender.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he had taken into account the “inherent gravity of the offence”, the age of the victim when the offending began, the breach of trust, “the multiplicity of offences”, the fact it extended over a decade, the constant threat of “consequences” if the offending was revealed and the impact it had on the victim.
He sentenced the man to 14 years in prison, backdated to when he was first remanded, before he suspended the last four years, taking into account his plea of guilty and lack of previous convictions.
The man was ordered to “stay away from the victim in perpetuity” and carry out 18 months’ post-release supervision.
In 2011 the teenager told her stepfather she “wasn’t having it anymore” and she confided in a neighbour who accompanied her to the Garda station to report the abuse.
Her victim impact report, which was read into the record, stated in part: “I had thoughts in my head every day that I was wrong and what was happening was my fault and it was normal. When I was 15 he told me if I told the gardaí he would go down for a long time and he would never speak to me again but he continued to abuse me.”
The teenager said she was afraid to tell her mother in case the man hurt her and she never knew the right thing to do. “It still feels like I am being watched even though I know he can’t hurt me any more,” the victim said.
“When I heard he was pleading guilty I felt like my childhood was starting again. My day-to-day life is getting better. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me,” the girl said, before thanking her foster mother, uncle, a friend and the investigating garda for their support.
The man, who has no previous convictions, made full admissions on his arrest in November 2011.
The court heard the man had been assessed as having a mild mental disability and had been a psychiatric in-patient from the age of 17.
The court was told by Brendan Grehan, defending, that the accused had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child and that “incest was rife in the family home”. What goes around, comes around. Sexual abuse is generational. Please pray my 3:15 PM prayer daily to help stop this horror.
The now 17-year-old victim, who reported the abuse to gardaí in July 2011, told officers the man raped her the night her grandmother died and when she came home early during her Junior Certificate exams.
The teenager left the family home in 2011 and has been in full-time foster care since.
She stated in her victim impact report that she was very close to her grandmother and she couldn’t separate the memory of her death from that rape.
The 36-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the teenager, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 11 sample charges of rape, oral rape and sexual assault from 2000 to July 2011.
He has been in custody since he pleaded guilty just before his trial last July when he was registered as a sex offender.
Mr Justice Paul Carney said he had taken into account the “inherent gravity of the offence”, the age of the victim when the offending began, the breach of trust, “the multiplicity of offences”, the fact it extended over a decade, the constant threat of “consequences” if the offending was revealed and the impact it had on the victim.
He sentenced the man to 14 years in prison, backdated to when he was first remanded, before he suspended the last four years, taking into account his plea of guilty and lack of previous convictions.
The man was ordered to “stay away from the victim in perpetuity” and carry out 18 months’ post-release supervision.
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| Mr Justice Carney |
Her victim impact report, which was read into the record, stated in part: “I had thoughts in my head every day that I was wrong and what was happening was my fault and it was normal. When I was 15 he told me if I told the gardaí he would go down for a long time and he would never speak to me again but he continued to abuse me.”
The teenager said she was afraid to tell her mother in case the man hurt her and she never knew the right thing to do. “It still feels like I am being watched even though I know he can’t hurt me any more,” the victim said.
“When I heard he was pleading guilty I felt like my childhood was starting again. My day-to-day life is getting better. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me,” the girl said, before thanking her foster mother, uncle, a friend and the investigating garda for their support.
The man, who has no previous convictions, made full admissions on his arrest in November 2011.
The court heard the man had been assessed as having a mild mental disability and had been a psychiatric in-patient from the age of 17.
The court was told by Brendan Grehan, defending, that the accused had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child and that “incest was rife in the family home”. What goes around, comes around. Sexual abuse is generational. Please pray my 3:15 PM prayer daily to help stop this horror.
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