A 78-year-old man who raped his granddaughter regularly has been jailed for five years by Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The victim, now 17, told the court her grandfather began raping her when she was eight years old. She did not want his age or the years he spent in the Army and other public service taken into account in his sentence.
"I just want to sit in front of him and tell him it was excruciating to go through all I did and have to live with it for the rest of my life," she said, before breaking down in the witness box.
The man, who was also her godfather, pleaded guilty to three sample counts of raping her on dates from October 1990 to March 1995. There were 40 charges of rape on the indictment, and the crimes took place both at his home in Co Kildare and her home in Co Laois. He had no previous convictions.
Mr Justice Carney said the defendant was not the first 78-year-old he had jailed for substantial terms.
He said that due to the defendant's immediate admission of guilt to the gardai and also because he did not occupy a trial date, having pleaded guilty on his first appearance, he would unconditionally suspend the final 18 months.