A 72-year-old Dublin man who raped his wife and three daughters and sexually abused two granddaughters has had his sentence adjourned by the Central Criminal Court for a week.
After a four-day trial last October he was convicted by a jury on 11 charges involving one daughter. These rapes happened between 1978 and 1986. He later pleaded guilty to 19 further sample charges involving the others.
The victim in the trial case told Mr Justice O Caoimh her father had taken away her childhood.
"A stolen childhood could never be replaced. There are simply no words strong enough to describe what happened to me," she said.
The woman added: "No one can see inside your mind to know the harm that has been done. Your parents should be the first persons you can trust. After many years I'm still trying to learn to love and trust people."
She asked Mr Justice O Caoimh "to hand out a just sentence to this person and ignore his age" because she said her father hadn't taken her age into consideration when he raped her.
One of her sisters said she could never understand how any parent would put a child through what her father had done to her. There were and could be no excuses for his actions.
The first daughter complained to Mr Justice O Caoimh that media reports of a previous hearing, especially a photograph in the Star, led to some of her children becoming aware of what happened to her. Neighbours where she lived also identified her father from it.
She suggested the media didn't generally take into consideration that they were dealing with real people and that it took a lot for people like her to go through with such a case without having to reveal all the details. She thought this made it hard for others to complain.
Both women also complimented Det Sgt Sean Campbell, Garda Geraldine Higgins and their team for the Garda work on the case. They said the gardai were always there for them.
Mr Justice O Caoimh directed that no photographs of the defendant were to be published.