A CO GALWAY man who began abusing his daughter when she was nine and continued raping her after obtaining a court order which forced her back into his sole custody has been sentenced to nine years penal servitude.
The 50 year old unemployed labourer, who cannot be named to protect his daughter's identity, pleaded guilty last year to nine charges out of the original total of 48 against him.
He admitted to six charges of having unlawful carnal knowledge of his daughter from 1987 to 1991 in a small Galway town when she was under 15.
He also pleaded guilty to three other charges of having unlawful carnal knowledge of her from 1992 to 1993. She was aged between 10 and 16 at the time.
The Central Criminal Court heard the now 19 year old woman had to endure, what Mrs Justice McGuinness called, a long continuation of offences "regularly and frequently" over a lengthy period.
There were factors both for and against the defendant in the case. However, the worst aspect was that he obtained and enforced the custody order from the courts she said.
He had not only betrayed the trust between a father and daughter but also the trust of the courts. The victim feared she could not get away due to the order, the judge said.
Mrs Justice McGuinness also noted from reports that the victim had declined to date to accept counselling. She urged her to reconsider.
In the defendant's favour, she took into account his early plea and that there were areas of dysfunction in the family. His wife had her problems which made it harder for her to be a protective mother.
She said she also took into account that he had no convictions had suffered from pre-trial publicity and attacks on his property. However, she also had to take into account the "extremely tragic state of his daughter" and the continuation of abuse over 10 years. She said she would review the case in six years.
Mr Conor Fahy, prosecuting said the defendant first abused his daughter when she was nine at a time they were living in England.
The family moved back to Ireland, and from, 1985 to May 1989 he had sex with her five or six times a leek.
He used to refer to his daughter as a "useless little whore" and taunted her by saying his story would be better that hers if she told anyone, Mr Fahy said.
There were difficulties in his marriage and between May and December 1989 he was in England. Barring orders had been granted on his wife's application at various times.
When the defendant returned to Ireland he kicked in the front door of the family house. In 1990 he resumed having sex with his daughter.
Mr Fahy said in July of that year the defendant's wife and the children moved out of the home and into a small flat in a nearby town.
The victim began secondary school in September 1990 and two months later her father was granted custody of her and her sister, now 13 and a brother, now 20, by the courts. His wife did not contest the case as her flat was too small to accommodate everyone.
The victim did not want to return to her father but a social worker, unaware of the abuse, told her she had to obey the court order.
Her father pressed her for sex when she returned home in January 1991 and he forced her to have sex almost every night.
She described how she would wear a number of tight under garments in an attempt to frustrate his efforts, but he would "nearly break her arms" in his rush to get. her clothes off, she said.
She began to fake illness to escape his clutches. She once even, went so far as to take an overdose, said counsel.
In the summer of 1993 when she began going out with a young man, her father tried to break up the relationship.
In March 1994 she went to England and had a baby girl a year later. She confided in a public "health nurse about the abuse and was surprised to be believed. She returned to Ireland later and made an official complaint on September 13th, 1995.
Reports showed she had been badly traumatised by the abuse and had not yet agreed to go to counselling.
A Garda detective sergeant agreed with Mr Padraic O'Higgins SC, defending, that when questioned, the defendant said he was glad to get the matter off his chest. He made a statement admitting the offences and expressed remorse.
He further agreed that the defendant had indicated he would plead guilty. This relieved the victim of the prospect of reliving her ordeal in a trial.