A MAYO man has been for five years for sex offences involving a 10 year old girl victim was the daughter of man's girlfriend.
At the Central Criminal Court the 43 year old defendant admitted he had sex with the girl 10 to 15 times and had oral sex with her on one occasion. He also agreed he might have had anal sex with her but he could not remember due to his drink problem, he said.
The man claimed when questioned by gardai that they would often fondle each other while lying on his bed. She initiated each sexual encounter, he claimed in two statements.
Mr Justice Carney said reports showed extremely serious damage had been done to the victim. He said the defendant's allegations were material to the case, but he was not taking them into account because evidence had not been put before him on the conflict between the statements of the defendant and the victim.
The defendant pleaded guilty to raping the girl once and sexually assaulting her on two occasions from 1987 to 1991.
A Garda sergeant agreed with Mr Maurice Gaffney SC, prosecuting, that the man moved in with the victim's mother in 1987. On July 27th of that year, he asked his girlfriend if her daughter could come to his room and get into bed with him "to keep him warm". Hours later, the girl woke up to find him "performing acts with her but she did not know what was happening."
On February 13th, 1991, he again took the girl to his bed "to keep warm" and sexually abused her.
Due to the defendant's violent behaviour, relations deteriorated further in the home until one night in 1991 the woman called gardai and she and the victim were taken to a place of safety. They later returned to the house when a barring order was obtained against the defendant.