A Clare man who subjected his daughter and her friend to years of rape and barbaric sexual abuse was jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Smith in the Central Criminal court yesterday.
A probation officer said the defendant seemed to be "a dominant and violent man in the home and his pattern of drinking to excess on his social welfare day left the family in very poor circumstances over a very long period".
When it was pointed out to the defendant that he had been convicted of sexual assault and rapes on his daughter and two of her friends, he "placed all the blame for being in their company on the girls".
"He stated that they came to the pub and asked him to go with them. It appears that he accepts no responsibility for these offences," the judge said.
Last June the 49-year-old man pleaded guilty to 28 counts of rape, anal rape and sexual assault of his daughter and her friend on dates from January 1991 to September 1996.
However, last month the court heard the man had reversed his position and now denied committing the crimes despite confessing to gardai and his wife when arrested in November 1996.
After his daughter, now 28, had given direct evidence but before she was cross-examined, he pleaded guilty to a sample charges of rape.
He started abusing his daughter when she was eight. On a twice-weekly basis he raped and abused her in a shed, in a local wood, and in other abandoned buildings. He also made her bring her friend along so he could also rape and abuse her.
The sergeant said the girl began running away from home and became involved in petty crime. On October 25th, 1996, the defendant contacted gardai to say his daughter had run away again. When she was found she explained to gardai why she did not want to go home and the investigation was opened.