'Monster' father who raped and threatened to kill daughter jailed for 12 years
Isabel Hayes
A “monster” who raped his daughter and threatened to kill her and move on to abusing her younger sister if she told anyone has been jailed for 12 years.
The 51-year-old Co Offaly man physically and sexually abused his daughter while she was visiting him at his various homes from when she was a small child, the Central Criminal Court heard.
He was found guilty following a trial last July of five sample counts comprising rape and oral rape on dates between 2012 and 2020. The girl was aged from around five to 13 years of age at the time of the offending, and the counts on the indictment were representative of particular incidents she remembered.
The court heard that the girl's mother and father split up when she and her younger sister were small. Their mother wanted the girls to have a relationship with their father and they visited him at weekends, the court heard.
The court heard that during these visits, the man would get drunk and lie on the couch. In the first offence, he hit her and told her she was “just like her mother” before he orally and vaginally raped her. He was repeatedly slapping her face during the attack.
This kind of abuse occurred on several more occasions, the court heard.
On one occasion, when the girl said she would tell her mother, the man told her he would “do it to her sister and kill her (the girl) and her family”, the court heard. He then forcibly took her clothes off and raped her, telling her again that she was just like her mother.
He was very rough and the girl, then aged six or seven, was screaming in pain. This occurred in a shed at his home, the court heard.
The girl's last distinct memory of the abuse was some years later in another shed in the man's home that he shared with his partner. He orally raped and then raped her. She estimated this type of abuse occurred around eight or nine times at this location.
Her younger sister gave evidence at trial that she witnessed her sister being orally raped by their father when she peeped into the shed on one occasion.
The girl confided in a friend about the abuse, and she eventually told her mother what her father was doing to her.
The man was arrested and interviewed by gardaí in 2023 and maintained nothing had happened. He has some minor previous convictions for road traffic offences. He gave evidence at trial and denied any wrongdoing. His partner also gave evidence on his behalf.
In her victim impact statement, the complainant, who is now 19, said the majority of her life has been taken up by abuse and she had her first suicidal thought at the age of seven.
“I didn't want to live with the pain he was causing me, it always felt wrong,” she said. “I was protecting my sister from being abused, my mam from being hurt. My family was all I cared about.”
She said her father's threat to move on to abuse her little sister still haunts her. She said she struggled as a teenager with his words “you're good for nothing” and that she lives in fear every day.
“When the man who's supposed to treat you the best in your life turns out to be a monster, how can you trust other men?” she said.
She said her family lives with the shame and guilt of not knowing what was happening to her. “I tried to protect my family,” she said, adding: “He made sure I was scared enough never to tell.”
“I know I am a kind and loving person despite what my father did to me and that's something he will never take from me.”
“There is no bigger monster in this world and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
She thanked her family members who have stood by her and shown her what unconditional love looks like.
Sentencing the man on Friday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott noted that the man has been placed by the Probation Service at a moderate risk of re-offending. He set a headline sentence of 13 years, which he reduced to 12 years.
When considering suspending part of this sentence, he noted the man has not acknowledged any wrongdoing and was therefore not suitable. He placed him under the supervision of the Probation Service for a period of three years upon his release from custody and ordered him to have no contact with his daughters or their mother.
Conor Devally SC, defending, handed in a number of testimonials in support of the man from family members, including his sister, his partner and his mother.
He said his client has a “plethora of medical conditions” which will make his time in custody more difficult.
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.
