Man gets four years for sex assault on partner’s 13-year-old daughter

A MAN who carried out a brutal sexual assault on his partner’s 13-year-old daughter has been jailed for four years, with the final two years suspended.

The accused, aged 46, admitted what he had done to the girl was dreadful.

Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard details of the ordeal to which he subjected the girl.

The two-year-old son of the accused was in the sitting room during the attack.

At the request of the prosecution, Judge Carroll Moran reluctantly make an order that the man’s name not be published to protect the girl being identified.

In a witness impact statement, the girl said: “When I hear his name, I feel like curling up and dying. I want a normal life like my friends, and I want him to feel some of the pain that he made me feel. If he did, he would know the pain I go through every day.”

She cannot sleep at night without locking her bedroom door and still suffered nightmares. As a result of what the accused did to her, she was scared of men.

Michael Collins, prosecuting, said an offer of e10,000 compensation was rejected by the girl and her mother as it could be interpreted as the accused trying to buy his way out of a sentence.

The man, who worked as a fitter and lorry driver, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault, which happened in February 2007 when he arrived at the house smelling of drink. He had also taken illegal drugs.

The girl’s mother was at work at the time.

At the family home in Co Limerick, he stripped naked before attacking the girl as she watched TV with her toddler brother.

The girl managed to run upstairs and lock herself in her bedroom, followed by the accused

A medical examination found bruising on the victim’s arms and abrasions on her genital area.

Days after the attack, the accused fled to Wales.

Six months later he was arrested at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital when he returned to visit his wife who was dying.

When questioned by gardaí, he said he did not fully recollect the assault, but accepted the girl did not fabricate the story.

A report on the man stated that he posed a moderate to low risk of re-offending.

Judge Moran suspended the final two years to enable him undergo counselling with the supervision of the probation service.

He also ordered his name to be placed on the register of sexual offenders.