"When these terrible facts came to light in our lives we thought it was something we could handle ourselves. It was very difficult for us to go to a doctor and show the physical evidence of our daughter's abuse. But we could not live with a situation where he was taking another child into his house and abusing her."
The father of "Annie" (who cannot be named for legal reasons) was giving evidence on the impact of sexual abuse by a music teacher on his daughter, and explaining to Judge Kieran O'Connor why he felt the perpetrator should be named.
Normally in sex abuse cases where the perpetrator is not named it is in order to protect the identity of the victims, but both he and the parents of "Deirdre", another of his young victims, felt that he could be named without them being identified. They made strenuous representations to counsel for the State, Mr George Birmingham, to this effect, and he argued this in court.
"We do not want this man to ever be in a situation where he can abuse children again," Annie's father said. "I think the only way to ensure other children will not come into contact with him is with publication."
But Judge O'Connor ordered that his name not be published, saying he wanted to protect other children who might have been abused and who have not come forward.
However, the parents of Deirdre and Annie are concerned that the parents of other victims might not know their child had been abused, and therefore would have no reason to confront this and seek counselling for them.
Annie's mother noticed signs of sexual abuse when she was bathing her daughter, then aged eight. Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, she broke down when she recalled the moment when she recognised the significance of the marks on her child's body.
She brought her to the family GP who confirmed her suspicions, and the family went to the Garda, sparking off the investigation which led to the man being sentenced to three years' imprisonment yesterday.
After reporting the matter to the Garda, she and her husband went to his house and confronted him. "He said: `I suppose I've been indiscreet,' and admitted `inappropriate touching'," her mother said. However, he did not admit the offences to gardai and pleaded guilty only five days before the trial was due to start last July.
As a result of this confrontation, the man destroyed all the records of his private pupils, so gardai were unable to trace other possible victims. They were able to go only on word of mouth.
One family they contacted on this basis were Deirdre's. "In July 1997 the gardai phoned and asked if our daughter had been abused," said her mother. "We said `No', but then said we'd ask her. She immediately said `Yes'."
Both children have been dramatically altered by the experience. "Deirdre was the kind of child that when she was two-and-a-half she had her bags packed and announced she was moving out. She was always very independent," said her mother. "Now she won't go anywhere on her own . . . She wakes up with nightmares almost every night. "It's robbed her of playing the violin. She'll never touch that instrument again."
Both sets of parents are certain other children have been abused by this man, that he organised his work to facilitate it. They say the room in his house in which he taught music had a separate entrance, that no one could get in without ringing the bell, that parents were not welcome during lessons.
They want to warn parents around the State that private music-teaching in the teacher's own home can provide an opportunity for abuse if parents do not have unrestricted access.