Man who raped and abused younger sisters jailed
By Sonya McLean
A man who raped and sexually abused his two younger sisters in their family home in Galway has been jailed for 13 and half years.
The 52-year-old man had denied the charges but was convicted following a trial by a Central Criminal Court jury.
He had pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape of the older sister on dates between January 1988 and December 1992 when she was aged between 11 and 16 years old, and he was aged between 14 and 18 years old.
He further denied five charges of indecent and sexual assault of the same woman over the same time period and three charges of oral rape on dates between January 1991 and December 1993 when she was aged between 14 and 17 years old, and he was aged between 16 and 19 years old.
The man also pleaded not guilty to four charges of sexual assault of his younger sister on dates between January 1991 and December 1994 while she was aged between eight and 12 years old and he was aged between 16 and 20 years old.
He further pleaded not guilty to oral rape of the same sister on dates between May 1992 and May 1994 when she was aged between 10 and 11 years old, and he was aged between 18 and 20 years old.
The older sister read her victim impact statement into the record.
She said she never thought she would be in court delivering her victim impact statement and that she owes that to the hard work of the detective and the Irish justice system.
The woman said they all grew up in a busy, loving family home. She said she was sexually abused by her brother from a very young age
She said they were a very religious family, and she “had the fear of God that the nuns would take me away” if anyone found out what was happening.
She recalled the first incident of abuse as occurring on the day of her communion. She said she can never look at photographs of her communion as “it brings me back to that monster”.
The woman said she left home when she was 18 years old, and although she was really lonely, it was “the lesser of two evils because I felt safe away from him”.
Excessive drinking
She said her own children have suffered due to her insecurities and said the abuse “made her doubt her own children”, outlining that she would “almost take the door off the hinges” if she realised her children were by themselves innocently playing behind a closed door.
The woman spoke of how she turned to alcohol to help her cope and ended up in the hospital at one point due to her excessive drinking.
“I could have died, but I pulled through,” the woman said, before she added that her father, at that point, made her swear never to touch a drop of alcohol again.
She said she cannot and will not let the abuse define her
”To hear the word guilty is my first step of healing,” she said, adding she can now make the most of her “precious future – I can begin to live for myself”.
Her younger sister also read her into the victim impact statement into the record. She spoke of having to live with shame and guilt and of harming herself when she was younger.
She described being in her own “mental prison” and described experiencing “panic attacks and lots of tears”.
The woman said if she had not dared to stand up and speak out – “I would still be in my own mental prison.”
“Finally being able to live and not just exist is the best outcome I can give myself,” the woman concluded.
Judge Kerida Naidoo said it was clear from the victim impact statements presented by the women that their brother’s sexual abuse of them had “a serious and enduring impact” on both of them.
He acknowledged that although the man was an adult during some of the offending, he was a minor when most of it occurred. He said as a result, his “age and level of maturity” would be applied as a mitigating factor.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
