Sex abuser threatened to kill girl if she told

A Clare man threatened to kill his partner’s nine-year-old daughter if she told anyone of his sexual abuse, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The three-year period of severe abuse was only uncovered when the victim’s younger brother, who was five years old, told their aunt. The court heard the girl is now “extremely traumatised”.

The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to one sample count each of anal rape and sexual assault of the girl between 2009 and 2012 in Clare. He will be sentenced next week.

The abuse began when the man moved in with the victim’s mother and lasted until the return of the victim’s aunt from overseas. The parties in the case cannot be identified for legal reasons.

A local garda told Anthony Sammon, prosecuting, that the aunt asked the victim and her brother how the man was treating them. The five-year-old boy began to tell her about the abuse, upon which the girl became very upset and pleaded with the boy not to say anything.

The abuse was then reported to gardaí.

She said the abuse took place in every room of the family home. The abuse happened when she was aged between six and nine.

In a report read to the court, a psychotherapist said it was very sad to see how the abuse has affected the “extremely traumatised” girl, who is now 12 years old.

The report described her as quiet, withdrawn, and nervous in therapy sessions and displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl described herself as feeling “scared, angry, dirty, sad, terrified, worried, nervous, never happy, shy, and guilty”.

She said the man threatened to kill her if she told her family or friends. She said she can’t sleep in the dark any more and “will probably never be happy again”.

Michael Bowman, defending, said the man wanted to make a deep and sincere apology, and that he “simply fails to offer any rational explanation for his wrongdoing”.

Counsel said the man, who has previous convictions for theft and cultivation of cannabis and opium, understands that a long term of imprisonment is inevitable and that “something deep-seated within him requires ongoing treatment”.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt remanded the man in continuing custody for sentence next Monday.