Doyle’s mother to face Garda probe into abuse

The mother of Fiona Doyle, whose father raped her repeatedly for 10 years when she was a child, is to face a Garda investigation for her alleged failure to protect her daughter from the horrific abuse she suffered.

Ms Doyle, a mother of three, said while her father had carried out the rapes, her mother had questions to answer about how her ordeal was allowed to continue in the family home for so long.

She told Pat Kenny on RTÉ Radio she was not sure what form of action could be taken against her mother, who supported her husband during his trial in the Central Criminal Court last month.

Ms Doyle was speaking as it was confirmed the Director of Public Prosecutions is to appeal theleniency of the three-year sentence imposed on her father, Patrick O’Brien, who pleaded guilty to 16 charges of rape and indecent assault.

His trial heard evidence that he first raped her the night before her First Communion. The case caused uproar when Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced O’Brien to 12 years in prison but suspended all but three years and then released him on the grounds he thought an appeal was likely.

A week later, the DPP appealed that decision and Justice Carney activated the three-year portion of the sentence and O’Brien was jailed.