I’ll probably never be happy again, says abuse victim

A Clare man who threatened to kill his partner’s nine-year-old daughter if she told anyone of his sexual abuse has been jailed for 13 years.

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 paedophile pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one sample count each of anal rape and sexual assault of the girl between 2009 and 2012 in Co Clare.