A 60-year-old woman has been sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison for exposing her daughter to “prolific sex abuse” on a daily basis by her husband, when the daughter was aged between three and 15 years of age.
Jacqueline Curran appeared before Judge Sinéad McMullan for sentencing at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court on Monday, having previously pleaded guilty to two sample charges that she exposed her daughter, Sophia Murphy, to assault, ill-treatment and neglect in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.
Sophia Murphy, who joined Monday’s court proceedings via video link, waived her right to anonymity at a previous court hearing.
Her father, John Murphy, Curran’s ex-husband, is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence for subjecting her to a litany of sexual abuse on an almost-daily basis at addresses in Mayo and Galway between January 3rd, 1995 and December 31st, 1995, and January 1st, 2000 and December 31st, 2000.
READ MORE
John Murphy is a former member of the Defence Forces.
At the outset of Monday’s sentencing hearing, the judge said there was no suggestion Curran was involved in the abuse herself or that she knew the full extent or gravity of the abuse.
Garda Inspector Thomasina McHale told a previous court hearing the investigation into the victim’s mother was secondary to an extensive historical sexual abuse allegation involving the victim’s father.
McHale said the abuse against the victim between 1988 and 2001, when she was aged between three and 15, included touching her genitals, digital penetration, penetration with objects including vibrators, a candle and the handle of a hairbrush.
Earlier, in a victim-impact statement, Sophia Murphy said she viewed her mother’s lack of protection as a betrayal.
“I often slept in sheds to avoid going home,” she outlined. She said the abuse had affected her education, she had taken to substance abuse, suffered from an eating disorder and severe anxiety and these effects are still ongoing.
Sophia Murphy said the abuse had affected her relationship with her own daughter, adding that her mother’s failure to protect her changed the entire direction of her life.
She concluded her statement by saying she was making it for “the little girl who never had a voice, for the teenager who slept in sheds to avoid home, for the woman who fought trauma alone, for her deceased sister, who had lived with the darkness of abuse too”. She said she was also making the statement “for her daughter, who deserved a mother who wasn’t broken”.
Imposing sentence, the judge said there was no doubt serious harm was caused to Sophia Murphy, very real harm that continues to this day.
Describing what happened as a very serious breach of trust, she said it fell far short of the duty every parent has to protect their children.
Restorative Justice/ The Walsh Sisters
“It was not a one-off incident,” the judge noted. “There was a continuing failure to protect her daughter over a number of years.”
Judge McMullan sentenced Curran to 18 months in prison with the final four months suspended.
Defence counsel Diarmuid Connolly told a previous court hearing that a custodial sentence would be unduly harsh and said the abuse had resulted in Curran being estranged from her family.
McMullan acknowledged that the defendant was considered to be at a low risk of reoffending, had pleaded guilty and had no previous convictions.
However, it was her view that the threshold for a custodial sentence had been reached and that this should send a signal to mark society’s revulsion about the nature of the crimes involved.
