A victim of child sex abuse decided to go to gardaí after her attacker contacted her on Instagram three years after the abuse came to an end.
The Limerick man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, molested the child on numerous occasions in her family home over the course of three years. The victim was aged between six and nine at the time and the man, now aged 46, also forced her to watch pornographic films with him before abusing her.
The abuse ended when the relationship between the man and the victim’s mother ended in 2012. It came to light in June 2013 when the girl wrote a note to her mother telling her: “I’ve been so scared to tell you this, I hope you won’t get cross”.
The girl’s parents, who are separated amicably, agreed with their daughter not to report the abusing to gardaí at that time.
In November 2015, the abuser contacted the victim online by “liking” a video she had uploaded to Instagram. The girl came into the family kitchen screaming, “He’s back, he’s back”, and the girl’s parents decided they had to notify gardaí of the allegations.
The man had pleaded not guilty to 19 counts of sexual assault of the child, all on dates between January 2009 and January 2012. After a trial at the Central Criminal Court in October a jury convicted him of six counts of sexual assault and two of sexual exploitation of a child.
Ms Justice Tara Burns said the abuse by the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was of extremely serious nature and involved an extreme breach of trust.
She said the man gained the trust of the victim’s mother before she let him into her family home. He then gained the trust of the child by helping her with homework and teaching her how to ride a bicycle.
She said the victim was a vulnerable person at the time as her parents’ marriage was breaking up.
She imposed a prison sentence of seven years for the most serious of the sexual assaults. She also imposed concurrent sentences of six years and four years for other assaults and sentences of two years for the sexual exploitation.
The judge commended the courage of the victim, who is now aged 16. The child gave evidence by video link in the trial with intimate and difficult evidence required to be given by her, the judge said.
Ms Justice Burns said while the allegations were challenged the defence was conducted in a professional manner and was as non-confrontational as possible.
More to follow.