Man jailed for sex assaults on eight-year-old step-daughter
A man who sexually assaulted his step-daughter over the course of a year has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.
The 48-year-old admitted that when he stated to cuddle the child he became aroused and began to molest her. He denied that he penetrated her.
The defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the then eight-year-old girl from September 1, 2008 to September 1, 2009 at an address in Dublin.
Garda Amanda King told Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting that the accused, the victim's mother and the victim all lived together in a house despite the marriage being over.
In late September 2009, the victim's mother was working late and came home to find the eight-year-old in the same bed as the man.
“She pulled back the bed clothes and noticed the child was wearing just a pyjamas top and the man had no bottoms on,” explained Gda King.
“He became startled and pulled on a pair of bottoms and the mother, who then became suspicious, reported the incident to gardaí.”
Gda King said the victim had told gardaí, through letters she had written, that her step-father had told her not to tell anyone about the sexual assaults and “to keep it a secret”.
She told gardaí he had touched her all over her body on numerous occasions when her mother was not in the house and said he touched her vagina.
The man admitted what he had been doing to gardaí when questioned.
“He said he knew what he was doing was wrong but described it as a weakness,” said Gda King.
The man, who has no previous convictions, was regarded as at a “low risk” of re-offending by a psychologist and has attended therapy to “get to the bottom of the proble,,” according to Mr Philipp Rahn BL, defending.
Judge Martin Nolan noted that the defendant was, prior to the offence, a “man without blemish” but that he breached the trust of a child.
“The offences were of a moderate variety but indeed very serious as a child's childhood has been disturbed,” said Judge Nolan as he handed down the sentence and registered the man as a sex offender.
