Man given further sentence for abuse of family members

A man already serving a 12-year sentence for sexual abuse of his daughter has been given a concurrent 14-year term by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for earlier sexual abuse of his nephews and nieces.

A man already serving a 12-year sentence for sexual abuse of his daughter has been given a concurrent 14-year term by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for earlier sexual abuse of his nephews and nieces.

The man abused the children while he was aged between 14 and 23 years old on dates between 1981 and 1990.

Ten years later the man began abusing his daughter on an almost on a daily basis - including regular oral rape - beginning in July 2000 when she made her First Holy Communion and ending in 2007 when she left home.

He was jailed for 12 years last November by Mr Justice Carney for the abuse of his daughter after pleading guilty to four counts of oral rape and eight counts of sexual assault against her.

Mr Justice Carney todaysaid he was taking into account a point raised by defence counsel, Mr Michael O'Higgins SC (with Ms Rosemary Aylmer BL), that if all the cases had been dealt with at the same time the effective sentence would probably have been somewhat higher then 12 years, but not significantly so.

Mr Justice Carney imposed a sentence of 14 years imprisonment on the rape charges and nine years on the indecent assault charges with all sentences to run concurrently from last November. He registered the man as a sex offender and ordered 10 years post-release supervision.

The 41-year-old man, who can not be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and 12 counts of indecent assault against three nieces and one nephew on dates between 1981 and 1990.

Mr Paul McDermott SC (with Ms Melanie Greally BL), prosecuting, said the Director of Public Prosecution's view was that the severity of these offences were at the upper end of rapes and indecent assaults.

Garda Michael McGrath told Mr McDermott that the investigation into this abuse began in August 2005 when three of the victims made a complaint to gardaí about their uncle.

Gda McGrath said the man raped and performed oral sex on one of his nieces several times while she was aged between nine and 13 years old. She said the abuse was "extremely painful" and he threatened her that she would be taken into care if she told anyone.

He also indecently assaulted the girl numerous times while she was aged between four and 13 years old.

Gda McGrath said the abuse stopped when she told him she was going to tell on him.

The man indecently assaulted a second niece several times while she was aged between four and nine years old.

The abuse stopped when she moved to a different area.

Gda McGrath said the man abused a brother and sister in a single incident in 1989 when he was baby-sitting them.

Mr O'Higgins said the accused man had instructed him to "apologise unreservedly".

He said the accused had initially taken a trial date in this case at time when he was at large and drinking heavily but once he was in prison following his sentencing for the abuse of his daughter he had quickly entered a guilty plea saving the trauma of a trial for his victims.

Mr O'Higgins said there was a "high level of dysfunctionality" in the accused man's family background and he himself had been the subject of abuse perpetrated by relatives and a family friend involving oral sex and buggery.

He said the accused was caught in the cycle of being an abused person may have seen that behaviour "in a skewed perverted way as normal".

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