A TIPPERARY father whose daughter considered hanging herself because he sexually abused her has been jailed for 2/2 years by the Central Criminal Court. However, Mr Justice Budd said he was suspending the final 18 months "aiming towards the defendant's rehabilitation".
He said the maximum sentence for sexual assault was five years imprisonment. As directed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, he also had to take into consideration the defendant's guilty plea, which spared the now 17 year old victim the trauma of giving evidence.
He added that the defendant had already been severely punished by his expulsion from the family home.
He commended the Garda officer in charge of it for her handling of what he called a "very sensitive case".
The 38 year old father pleaded guilty to nine charges of sexual assault. Mr George Birmingham prosecuting, said the charges were representative of six years of abuse of the girl.
The court heard that she told gardai she had considered going to a lonely place and hanging her self because she feared her account of the abuse, given in October 1994, was not being acted upon. This was before it was reported to gardai.
A Garda witness said they were called in after the victim's mother confided in her doctor during a routine visit in 1995. The abuse had not taken place for a number of months by that stage.
The defendant went to the Garda station voluntarily on May 19th, 1995, and made a statement of admission. He said he had drink taken the first time he interfered with his daughter.
He had gone into her bedroom at night and pulled her under clothes down before taking his own trousers down. His wife came into the room and said "What the hell are you doing? What's going on?". He replied that he had not actually touched his daughter.
The abuse came to light as a result of an incident in October 1994. The victim's school principal asked her to explain why she did not have a sick note for days she had missed. The girl broke down and confided in the teacher about the abuse.
The principal contacted the girl's mother, who confronted her daughter about the allegations and then called in her husband, who confessed. He agreed with her that he realised what he was doing, and she told him to stop or she would alert the authorities.
Her daughter then seemed to improve. However, in December 1994 there was another incident.
In the first few months of 1995 she noticed the girl had regressed so she alerted her doctor to the abuse and gardai were contacted. Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, said his client accepted he had done his daughter a great wrong and apologised through the court to her.