A 42-YEAR-OLD Co Galway man was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday for sexually abusing his two younger sisters and a niece over a five-year period.
The man, who may not be named in order to protect the identity of his victims, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court earlier this year to nine sample counts of the indecent and sexual assault of the three girls, who were aged between seven and nine years at the time the abuse began, on various dates between 1987 and 1992 at a Co Galway location. He was aged between 21 and 26 at the time.
The facts in 32 other sample charges were admitted by the accused and sentencing was deferred to this week.
The court heard last Wednesday that the girls’ mother knew about the abuse and told them to shut up and say nothing or else the neighbours would find out. The girls said in victim impact reports presented to the court that their mother regularly entered their bedroom while their brother was abusing them and would drag him out of the room.
The abuse went on every weekend for five years and only stopped when a younger sibling came under threat of being abused also. At that stage the accused was thrown out of the family home but a veil of silence descended and the family was split, with the parents and older siblings siding with the accused against the three younger victims and a young sibling because they wanted to report what had happened to them.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Raymond Groarke said it was coincidental that the accused came up for sentencing last Wednesday – the day Mr Justice Seán Ryan’s report into institutional child abuse was published – but this too was a child abuse case.
He commended the three young women who were present in court for their bravery and courage.
He said he knew they continued to suffer each and every day from the pain caused by the abuse at the hands of their brother and that they doubly suffered from the rejection of their parents and family. He said their coming forward and making the complaints would give hope and support to other victims of child abuse within the home to come forward too.
Judge Groarke sentenced the accused to one year in prison for the offences perpetrated against each victim and he made each sentence consecutive. He also placed the accused on the Sex Offenders Register for life.