Paedophile, 81, jailed for raping and assaulting niece

A convicted paedophile has been jailed for seven years for raping and sexually assaulting his niece.

The 81-year-old man was found guilty last May by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping and indecently assaulting the child in August 1971 in Co Clare. He had denied the two charges.

He was jailed for four and a half years last year after conviction by another Central Criminal Court jury of 11 counts of indecently assaulting one daughter in Clare between January 1971 and December 1973, and a second daughter in 1980. Both girls were aged between 11 and 13 years at the time.

Garda Donal Corcoran told Martina Baxter, prosecuting, that the now 56-year-old victim later told gardaí she was 11 years old when she was first raped by the man. She said a woman took her out of her own bed and put her in the bed of the sleeping, naked accused. She recalled the woman brushing her (the victim’s) hair and leaving the room before she was raped.

A victim impact report before the court stated that the offences “still has a massive impact” on her to this day.

“My childhood was taken. I was made to think it was all my fault,” the woman said, before adding it had been “a huge burden on my life”.

She said she could now sleep more often without nightmares and she “doesn’t want to be a victim anymore”.

Ms Justice Heneghan noted that the accused had never shown any remorse for his actions.