Man pleads guilty to raping 4-year-old sister when he was 12

A man who as a 12-year-old consistently raped and molested his four-year-old sister told gardaí during interview 40 years later that the sex was consensual.

The man (57), a father of seven, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to four counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault on dates between December 1971 and October 1973 while his sister was aged between four and six.

The woman (now 49) read from her victim impact report that she did not feel like she had her “own identity because the abuse is so ingrained in me”.

“I’ve been in prison in my own body and mind. I can never get those years back,” the woman continued, after saying that her brother “walks around free”.

She said that as a child she was full of fear, afraid to go out and afraid to stay in. She described wearing loads of clothes and hiding under beds, “but he always got to me. It became a waiting game. There was no escaping.”

She said she would never be able to forget the horrors of the abuse and she lived in constant fear every day that her brother would get her.

“I’ve never known what a normal life is and never will,” the woman said, adding the chances of that “ended the first day he raped me”.

Sample counts

Tara Burns SC, prosecuting, told the court the man had pleaded guilty to sample counts and said the abuse occurred at least two or three times per week.

The woman told gardaí she remembered her brother raping her while she was watching television at home and her mother was speaking to a neighbour across the street. He sexually assaulted her first after lifting her skirt before taking off her underwear and raping her.

The man told his then five-year-old sister that their father would kill her for not wearing her underwear before he put them in his pocket.

She recalled another incident when the family were celebrating another brother’s wedding and the accused forced her to perform oral sex on him while she was sitting on the toilet. She vomited afterwards and was screaming for quite some time afterwards.

Ms Burns told the court the girl’s mother slapped her afterwards for “acting up”.

She said her brother would rape her while babysitting her and her other siblings, telling her sisters to remain downstairs while he took her up to his bedroom.

Homework

The woman told gardaí that their mother would encourage her brother to help her with her homework. He would regularly sit her on his lap and assault her.

Garda Ciaran Campbell told Ms Burns that the accused had no other convictions. He agreed with Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that the abuse came to the attention of the health authorities in 1994 when the accused made full admissions. At that stage the abuse had also been disclosed to their father.

The abuse was reported to the gardaí but Garda Campbell agreed the man was never interviewed because gardaí believed the family did not want to pursue it any further.

Mr Hartnett handed in two medical reports which stated that his client suffered from depression and had attempted suicide twice. Counsel said the abuse occurred 45 years ago and his client had never denied his involvement.

He asked the judge to take into account the fact that the man was a juvenile at the time and had indicated his remorse and regret. He submitted that it would be inappropriate to impose a custodial sentence.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy adjourned the case for sentence to next Tuesday.