Rape victim asks court to impose life term on father

A YOUNG man who suffered systematic rape and sexual abuse by his father has asked the Central Criminal Court to impose a life sentence on his tormentor.

In an emotional and powerful victim impact statement, the 20-year old man described how he had to endure his own life sentence and how he never had a childhood out of the fear in which he lived of his father.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, cried as he explained how he considered his real parents to be an aunt and uncle who gave him a home and treated him as one of their own children. He also revealed how his father had forced him to make a false allegation against that uncle so that they wouldn’t get custody of his children.

His father was convicted at the end of a nine-day trial last month on 47 charges of the rape and sexual abuse of his son on dates between April 11, 2001, and June 23, 2004, when the boy was aged 12-15.

The 52-year-old father of six continues to protest his innocence of all charges and accused his son during the trial of lying about being raped and sexually abused as an act of revenge.

The boy’s mother was sentenced to seven years in prison after a separate criminal trial last year when she pleaded guilty to incest with another of her sons and the cruelty and neglect of the couple’s six children. The woman gave evidence during the current case against her husband, from whom she is now separated, claiming she had witnessed him raping their son.

Mr Justice Barry White adjourned sentencing until next Friday in order to consider submissions made by the prosecution and defence legal teams, as well as the victim impact statement. However, he said he would not impose a life term, but would hand down a fixed term of imprisonment.

The victim’s aunt rushed to embrace him as he stepped out of the witness box, while other members of his family also wept openly as he delivered his victim impact statement to a packed courtroom.

Aileen Donnelly SC, for the DPP, said the victim was anally and orally raped when he began secondary school in September 2001 until he moved out of the family home in June 2004.

She claimed it was “unsurprising” that his mother, who knew her son was being raped by her husband, had done nothing to report the matter as “any semblance of parental propriety was absent in this house”.

David Goldberg SC for the boy’s father, informed the court that reports had shown his client did not suffer any psychological illness. He also reminded Mr Justice White that the children’s mother had sought a High Court injunction in 2000 to prevent the health board from taking them into care.

Mr Goldberg said the failure of the health board to pursue the matter “had led to this tragic result”.

A report commissioned by the HSE into how social services dealt with the family is due to be published shortly.