Mayo man jailed for abusing his daughter
A Mayo father has been convicted at the Central Criminal Court of raping his teenage daughter.
The jury found the 48-year-old man guilty on 19 charges of rape and sexual assault on his daughter on dates from 2000-2003. The 19 counts comprised seven of oral rape and 12 of sexual assaults.
Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins remanded him in custody for sentence later and certified him for registration as a sex offender. He also directed the preparation of a victim impact report.
The jury took just under three hours to return 11-1 majority verdicts on day-seven of the trial.
The defendant originally faced 56 charges of rape and sexual assault but following legal discussions in the absence of the jury on day-six, Mr Justice O'Higgins withdrew 20 counts from the jury and directed it to return not guilty verdicts on them. One further oral rape charge was later also withdrawn from the jury.
Mr Justice O'Higgins thanked the four women and eight men of the jury for its care and attention to the case and exempted them from further jury service for five years.
The jury heard the now 15-year-old girl give evidence of her father watching porn videos in which men had sex with women who were sometimes dressed as nurses. She said he would then sexually abuse her and masturbate to ejaculation in her presence.
Her father gave evidence denying all her allegations.
