A 27-YEAR-OLD Co Laois man has been given a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting his niece when she was 11 years old.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court on two counts of sexually assaulting the girl at her home between June 1998 and June 2001.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan imposed a one-year concurrent sentence on each count and suspended the last six months of the sentence for a period of two years. The man has been placed on the sex offenders’ register since being convicted.
A victim impact statement was read to the court in which the woman, now 21, described the abuse as “horrendous”. She described her childhood as “less than typical” and said for many years her “mind was in turmoil”.
“He used me in a most disgusting manner,” she said, adding that giving evidence in the trial “brought back vile memories”.
“He inflicted adulthood on me years before I was ready,” she said.
“I hope and pray that some day he will realise the full extent of what he did to me,” she added.
She said the psychological damage caused to her was “beyond words”. “I’ll never understand why he did it to me . . . he has forfeited his right to call himself my uncle,” she said.
“I am still discovering the full impact of what he did to me,” she added. Sgt Ingrid Ward told Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, the first sexual assault happened when the girl was 11. She agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that the man conducted himself properly during interview and consented to having photographs and fingerprints taken.
Mr O’Higgins said his client was a child at the time but he has now married and has a child. He asked the judge to have regard to the time which has passed since the offences and said his client has moved on. Mr Justice Sheehan noted the man was a juvenile at the time and said he accepted the offences were at a lower range but said he was bound to impose a custodial sentence.