A man who raped and sexually assaulted his daughter’s friend over a four-year period has been sentenced to 13 years in jail.
The now 17-year-old read her victim-impact statement during the sentence hearing of the 40-year-old man earlier this month, during which she said she felt more on trial than the defendant during the court process.
The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court last July of 12 counts, including sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, rape, anal rape and oral rape of the girl in various locations in the State on dates between October 2012 and July 2018.
The man was also found not guilty of one count of sexual assault. The court heard he continues to deny any wrongdoing.
The victim was a friend of the man’s daughter. She was aged between seven and 11 at the time of the offending.
In her statement, the girl described the man as a “predator” who came into her life when she was seven.
She said she lives in a “constant state of fear” and has severe anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She said the trauma has “not gone away” and, referring to the court process, that at times “she felt more on trial than he was”.
She said she was “made to feel like I was in the wrong” and it was implied that her tears during the cross-examination were “convenient”.
She said her schoolwork suffered and she isolated herself from friends. The victim said she also felt the men in her family could not be trusted and she didn’t want to be left alone with her father.
The complainant said she is worried about how the abuse will affect her into the future. While the man had taken “so much” of her childhood and adolescence, she said she is “not willing to let him take anything else”.
Ms Justice Karen O’Connor thanked the victim for her articulate report. She said the girl would help other children in similar situations to know they are not alone. The judge also expressed the hope that the girl would continue with her studies in the future.
Sentencing the man on Monday the judge said the girl had been taken advantage of in the “most cruel way”, noting that elements in the case were “unusual and concerning”, including the use of a mobile phone, the insults and threats issued to the girl, including a threat to kill her pet dog if she disclosed the abuse.
The judge noted that there were four separate types of offending in four separate locations, which included the girl’s family home — “a place where she should have felt safe”.
She said the man’s behaviour was “predatory” and the impact on the teenager was the “most significant aggravating factor”, noting she had become withdrawn and her mental health had deteriorated.
She noted the accused has a wife and two teenage children and is very much loved and highly regarded by them and extended family members.
The judge imposed concurrent sentences of 13 years, having noted that the two rape offences warranted a headline sentence of 14 years. She suspended the final six months of the 13 years on strict conditions.
She commended the teenager on “her dignity and courage” throughout “this difficult process” which she said is particularly difficult for a child victim in offences of this nature.
An investigating garda told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, at a previous sentence hearing, that the victim was aged seven when the first incident occurred. The man exposed himself to the girl and touched her at a party.
On another occasion, the man was doing some work in the victim’s family home. He raped her in her mother’s bedroom, before anally raping her. He then grabbed her and said if she told anyone, he would kill her dog.
On one occasion, the victim and the man’s daughter were playing with dolls, then started arguing. The man took the girl to his bedroom, and made her masturbate him.
In a separate incident at his home he recorded himself as he raped her. On another occasion, he tried to choke her.
In another, the final incident, the man slapped the girl, who was then aged 11, on the face and told her she was worthless before he raped her, and then put his hands around her throat and started to choke her.
The court heard that the victim told her mother about the abuse in 2020 and it was then reported to gardaí.
The man was arrested in April 2021 and was interviewed on six occasions, during which he denied the allegations.
The court heard the man has a long work history and has been involved in local sports organisations.
Mark Nicholas SC, defending, asked the court to take into consideration the fact his client had led a “blameless life up to this point”. A number of testimonials were handed into the court on behalf of the man from family and friends.