Father jailed for rape and sexual assault of his daughter

A man has been jailed for eight years for the rape and repeated sexual assault of his daughter.

The child’s mother told the Central Criminal Court that she will never forgive the 49-year-old man.

He pleaded guilty to oral rape of the child and nine counts of sexual assault at her grandmother’s home on dates between September 1st, 2014 and March 2nd, 2015. He also admitted sexual exploitation of a child by showing her pornographic DVDs.

The offending took place in a county in Munster. Mr Justice Micheal White ordered that nothing more specific about the location could be published.

The court heard that the child’s parents separated and he moved back to his mother’s home. He had unsupervised access to the child at this home and during these visits he showed her the pornographic film before orally raping her.

She later told gardaí­ that he grabbed her hair and pulled her head down so much that she gagged. The sexual assaults involved digital penetration on numerous occasions as well as forcing her to masturbate him.

In a victim impact statement the mother told the court that she was absolutely shocked and devastated when her daughter broke down in tears and told her what her father had done.

She said the lives of her family changed forever that day. She said that looking back she recalled how her daughter would often be in bad form and irritable when coming back from her father’s home.

“My heart is broken and I feel so guilty for not seeing what was going on,” she wrote.

She said some days her daughter, now aged 12, was fine but on others she was angry or crying or just sat staring into space.

Addiction problems

Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said his client had addiction problems, including alcohol, gambling, prescription drugs and other substances.

He said when arrested in 2018 the man made a full confession. He was charged last February and never applied for bail and entered guilty pleas in April.

Mr Grehan said his client did all this to avoid inflicting any further trauma on his daughter by forcing her to wait or worry about the possibility of preparing for a trial.

He said the man now wished to apologise to the child and to all those who had been hurt by his actions.

Mr Justice White suspended the final two years of a 10-year prison term on condition that he participates in assessment for a sex offender treatment programme.