A LIMERICK man who repeatedly sexually abused his partner’s daughter over a two-year period when she was a child has been jailed for 12 years.
The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, was found guilty by a jury on all 31 counts involving sexual assault, oral rape, attempted rape and attempted anal rape of the girl at various locations in Limerick between 1994 and 1997.
The guilty verdicts were handed down by a jury following a one-week trial in the Central Criminal Court last November.
The complainant in the case was aged between 12 and 14 at the time of the abuse, while the man was in his thirties. He has one previous conviction for drink driving.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the offences had been “an appalling breach of trust” of the girl and by extension, of the girl’s mother. He said the offences had occurred in the family home where the girl was entitled to feel safe and protected.
There had been a degree of cultivation and the man had taken full advantage of his position in the household. The injured party had suffered devastating and life-long consequences.
There were “not many” mitigating features as there was no acceptance of the offending, so remorse did not arise. However the man had since lived a largely blameless life and provided financial support to his family.
A Detective Garda told Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, that the man became the girl’s mother’s partner when the child was aged around eight years old and living in the UK. He began to sexually abuse the girl on a regular basis while living in the UK, but these offences are not before the court.
The abuse, as set out in the indictment before the court, started when the family moved to Limerick when the girl was aged 12. The man regularly sexually her, simulating sex in a garden shed when no-one else was around.
The abuse progressed to oral rape when the girl was in bed at night. When her mother returned for a period to the UK for medical reasons, the girl was left in the care of the man for about six weeks and the abuse intensified. During this time, the man attempted to rape and anally rape her.
The offending ended in early 1997 when the man approached the girl when she was in the bathroom and she told him she would shout out. She left home shortly afterwards and went to live with her father, the court heard.
She eventually confided in her mother about the abuse in 2007. Her mother immediately confronted her partner about the allegations. He denied them, but the mother ended the relationship.
The complainant made an official complaint to UK police in 2016 and the man was interviewed by Gardaí in 2017. He denied the allegations against him.
In her victim impact statement she said she has been tortured and tormented by the sexual abuse she endured as a child. She was confused about what was being done to her and lived in silence.
“I was threatened by an adult who said my mum wouldn’t love me anymore,” she said.
The woman said she had been a quiet child and the man took advantage of that and isolated her even more. The abuse changed the direction of her life, she said.
She suffers from anxiety, depression and complex post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the abuse. She has panic attacks and still reverts to hiding under the duvet “when it all gets too much”.
She said her relationships had suffered and her marriage had ended as a result of the abuse and she is now a solitary person.
“Since the guilty verdict, I feel I can breathe for the first time in years,” she said. “Things are no longer so daunting. I can finally see a future I can be present in.”
Defending counsel Andrew Sexton said his client was a man of no relevant previous convictions who has not come to Garda attention before. He noted one of the woman’s siblings is currently living with the man and he remains in touch with another sibling.
Mr Justice McDermott imposed concurrent sentences totalling 12 years and ordered six years post-release supervision, during which the man should not contact the injured party, should be under the supervision of the probation service and should not be in the company of children under 18 years of age alone.
