A High Court judge has awarded €450,000 damages to a woman after finding her life was devastated as a result of being sexually abused by a man over a 10-year period, beginning when she was just four years old.

A woman has told the High Court how her life “was ruined” and her “childhood stolen” by a man who sexually abused her over a 10-year period.

A 45-year-old woman has told the High Court how her childhood was shattered after suffering ten years of harrowing abuse at the hands of a neighbour while growing up in North Dublin.