A 40 year old Dublin man, jailed for 15 years yesterday, originally faced more than 250 charges but pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 10 representative counts of rape, incest and indecent assault.
The offences against his daughters, now aged 21,20 and 18, were committed between 1989 and February 1996. A certificate for leave to appeal the severity of sentence was refused.
The prisoner, dressed in a green suit, white shirt and paisley tie, sat in the dock with his head bowed during the hearing. He was flanked by two prison officers.
As Mr Justice Carney recounted the facts of the case, the prisoner continually shook his head from side to side. At times he also rested his head on the index finger and thumb of one hand.
At an earlier hearing, defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC had asked the court to ignore what he described as "a value judgment" in a victim impact report which stated the abuse was "one of the worst cases of its kind ever
Mr Justice Carney said the charges before the court in the case were a token sample of outrages so numerous that they could not be quantified but certainly ran into many hundreds.
Many of the crimes had the attendant aggravating features and perversions which are routine in cases coming before the court, he said.
"The unique feature of this case is that the accused operated a sexual tariff by requiring his daughters to submit to a sexual act with him before being allowed out the front door of their dwelling house.
"This `customs post' was in operation while the accused's wife was out of the house acting as the provider by working as a cleaner," said Mr Justice Carney.
The judge recalled evidence of the offence given at a previous hearing by Det Garda Roisin Connolly.
She had said the abuse only came to light in February 1996 when the man's youngest daughter, then aged 17, left the family home and refused to return.
The girl went to stay with an aunt, and as she and other aunts tried to persuade the girl to return home, she disclosed she had been sexually assaulted by her father.
The victim's mother was told about the revelations, and then her two older daughters disclosed that they too had been sexually abused by their father, Det Garda Connolly told prosecution counsel Mr Paul O'Higgins SC.
When confronted by his wife, he admitted having had sex with their youngest daughter and without saying anything further walked out of the house.
He later walked into Store Street Garda station and confessed to some degree what had happened.
It came to light that there was a seven year period of sexual offences including rape perpetrated against three daughters.
He admitted to gardai he would tell his daughters to give him "a ride" if they wanted to go out to discos or to meet boyfriends. He apologised for what he had done and said he did not know who had come over him.
He said he never used violence on his daughters. Det Garda Connolly said the man initially began to take a sexual interest in his eldest daughter during March 1989 when she was 14 years old. The abuse progressed to full intercourse.
She agreed with Mr Justice Carney that as soon as the mother left home to go to work, her husband took advantage of the situation, and the offending initially took place two to three times a week.
She left the family home in July 1995 and moved to a flat, but the abuse continued on occasions when she returned home.
He last had sex with her in the family home in September 1995 and sexually assaulted her for the last time two months after that Det Garda Connolly said.
He also took a sexual interest in his second daughter during 1989 when she was only 13. He asked her to expose herself to him and he also exposed himself to her. He showed her pornographic magazines and sexually abused her.
He had intercourse with her when she was 14 1/2, and thereafter this would take place one or two times a week.
Det Garda Connolly said he began abusing his youngest daughter, then 15, in 1994.
He had intercourse with her in September 1994. Anal sex took place in July 1995 but she refused his demands for oral sex.
Det Garda Connolly agreed with Mr MacEntee that the man was very distressed in the Garda station, and a doctor was called because he felt suicidal.
Mr MacEntee had said two of the defendant's daughters could forgive his abuse of them. The third daughter was finding it more difficult but had visited him in prison after Christmas.
In evidence, the man's wife had said she would have him back despite everything and she felt her daughters could be protected in the future. In other aspects of family life her husband had been a kind man and a good provider when he could, she said.