A former soldier who sexually abused his young daughter over a period of four years was yesterday jailed for five years by Judge Murphy at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The 44-year-old father-of-three pleaded guilty to seven sample charges of indecently assaulting the girl between 1982 and 1986.
The abuse began when the girl was just four years old after her mother walked out on the man and his three young children.
It took place at weekends and during holidays when she and her two brothers returned home from a hostel they stayed in during the week.
The girl - who is now 22 - told gardai her father used to remove her underclothes as she lay in bed. He would sit her up in bed on top of him and rub his penis against her vagina and touch her with his fingers.
It went on twice and three times every weekend until she was 12 when he stopped voluntarily.
Gardai began investigating the case in 1995 when the girl told care staff in the hostel what had happened.
The man admitted the abuse and said that when his wife left, he began drinking heavily and had a nervous breakdown.
He used to abuse his daughter after drinking but he started to feel ashamed and he just stopped, he said.
"I am sorry for any hurt I caused her during the years I interfered with her and any hurt since," he said.
Gardai said the abuse had a terrible effect on the girl. She now had very low self-esteem and was very guarded.
The man looks after his elderly mother who is dying of cancer and he pleaded with his daughter to drop the charges in a letter he sent her before the trial. He told the court his mother had no one else to look after her as she was in fear of his brother who stabbed her.
He had never used any threats or abused anyone else or anyone since, but a psychiatrist recommended he get therapy, his barrister, Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, told the court.
Judge Murphy said it was a bad case which had badly affected the girl who would need years of therapy.
"The man himself does not seem to appreciate the enormity of what he has done," said Judge Murphy, noting his guilty plea.
He jailed him for five years and ordered that he be afforded treatment under the sex offenders programme in Arbour Hill.