A CARLOW man has been convicted of raping and sexually assaulting his daughter over nine years.
The 48-year-old man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 32 counts of rape, oral rape and sexual assault of his daughter at locations in Kildare, Laois and Carlow between June 17th, 1991 and June 30th, 2000.
Mr Justice Paul Carney directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on a further 40 counts following legal argument.
The jury took over seven hours to convict the man of one count of oral rape, one of sexual assault and 20 counts of rape.
The jury acquitted the man of two counts of sexual assault and disagreed on a further six counts of rape and two of sexual assault. It was day-10 of the trial.
The now 25-year-old woman said in evidence that her father first sexually assaulted her when she was about seven year old and living in Carlow.
She said her only memory of that time was her father coming to her while she was sitting in a bedroom, asking her to perform oral sex on him and forcing her to do it when she refused by holding her head.
She said she was first raped by him when the family moved to another house in Carlow.
The man had denied in evidence that he ever raped or sexually assaulted his daughter, saying he was away working for long periods of time when some of the offences were alleged to have occurred.
Mr Justice Carney thanked the men and women of the jury for their “careful attention” to the trial and excused them from jury duty for the rest of their lives.
He directed the man be registered as a sex offender and remanded him in custody for sentence later this year.