A FATHER who raped his two daughters when they were just four and five was jailed for 11 years yesterday at the Central Criminal Court.
The court, which is currently sitting in Dundalk, heard the 61-year-old had also sexually abused three sisters from another family. When his daughters heard about that case, they had the courage to go to gardaí and make complaints about him.
He was sentenced to 2½ years earlier this year in relation to six indecent assaults relating to the three sisters.
In relation to his daughters he pleaded guilty to six counts: one of rape on each girl and four of indecent assault.
The offences happened, primarily in the family home, from 1980 to 1985.
The younger girl was raped on a Sunday afternoon after her father sent her older sister to the local shop and while her mother was asleep.
The older daughter, to whom the majority of offences related, was frequently assaulted in her parents' bed. She feared getting out of bed in the morning in case he heard her. Mr Justice Paul Carney was told the DPP submitted that the offences were at the top end of the scale.
The defence said the accused had an alcohol abuse problem. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Carney said alcohol use was no defence or mitigation in "one's responsibility to society".
Given all the factors, he measured the appropriate sentence to be 15 years, and when discounts were given, as required by law, for the guilty plea and his admissions to the offences, he imposed 11 years on each of the rape counts and five years on each of the indecent assault offences.
They are to run concurrently, so the accused will serve 11 years dating from June last year, the time he went into custody in relation to the charges. He did not direct post-release supervision due to the age the accused will be on release, and to the fact that he had been assessed as being at low risk of reoffending. He placed him on the sex offenders' register.
During the evidence, both daughters read out victim impact statements detailing the effect of the abuse.
The younger girl feared going downstairs on Christmas morning because she knew her father would be asleep on the sofa as a result of drink.
The older girl said she feared he would abuse her younger sister and tried to protect her, even though she herself was only eight at the time.
She said being in the family home brings flashbacks, and that "each room has a horrific tale to tell, if only the walls could talk".
Both told the court their childhood had been taken from them, and they fear for their own children should they ever be abused.