Man befriended family to exploit and abuse girl, 7

A paedophile who had unrestricted access to a seven-year-old girl after befriending her family and subsequently acting as a babysitter, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for using her to produce child pornography and for sexually exploiting and assaulting her over a three-year period.

His trial in May at Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence from the victim that the accused regularly stuck his thumb into her mouth, making her gag, every time she met him.

The man had been friends with her mother’s then- partner and he had often stayed with the family, offering to babysit for them when they went out drinking. The family moved address on a number of occasions and the accused would seek them out and come stay with them. Her mother and partner often left him in charge, sometimes for a few days.