Galway man jailed for daughter's rape

A Connemara father who began raping his daughter when she was only nine-years-old has been jailed for 11 years by Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan at the Central Criminal Court.

Patrick Naughton (49) of Cinn Mhara, Camus, Co Galway was convicted by a jury on 18 sample charges of raping and buggering his daughter from 1987 to 1993 and one charge of raping her on June 19, 1997. She told the media she wanted him named publicly.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan criticised what he called "a totally improper approach" on behalf of Mr Bobby Molloy TD, Minister for State at the Department of Environment, or someone purporting to represent him, asking him if he had received a communication from Naughton’s sister.

He said a female who called said she represented Mr Molloy and asked if he could be telephoned at home.

He refused the suggestion and said he was very surprised that someone "of the status of a Government minister" would make such an approach.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan, who referred again to this matter after passing sentence, said he told the caller he could not discuss the case with anyone at this stage of the proceedings and that it was quite improper that any such approach should be made.

He had also said that all communications in a case should be made through the court registrar.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan said he wanted to make it clear that the constitution provided for justice to be conducted in public and there was no question of any "behind-the-door" work taking place.

When defence counsel, Mr Patrick J McCarthy SC, told him that Naughton’s sister had asked counsel if the court received "an affidavit" from her - he recalled that two letters had been addressed to him.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan said he hadn’t opened these letters and had handed them unopened to his registrar, Mr Liam Convery but had told both Mr McCarthy and counsel for the prosecution, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, in open court he was quite open to them knowing the contents.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan said he had seen nothing and would see nothing else at this stage of the proceedings other than reports directed by the court.

When Mr Gageby suggested they could be returned to the sender, they were returned to Naughton’s solicitor who handed them to a person in the public gallery.

Mr Justice O’Sullivan ordered that Naughton’s name should be put on the registry of sex offenders and that after serving his sentence he is to remain under post-release supervision for 12 years.

He must also inform the Gardai of where he is living after he leaves prison.

During the 12 years post-release supervision he is to report monthly to a probation and welfare officer and tell the officer at any time if he plans to leave the jurisdiction, how long he intended to remain outside the jurisdiction and when he planned to return.

Failure to abide by these conditions could result in 12 months imprisonment or a £1000 fine or both. Mr Justice O’Sullivan refused leave to appeal conviction or sentence.

The jury of five women and seven men returned its unanimous guilty verdicts on the seventh day of the trial in October last after four-and-a-half hours deliberations spread over two days..

Naughton had pleaded not guilty to all the charges and told the jury in evidence the allegations against him were "all a pack of lies".

The court heard he had threatened to kill her many times by throwing her in a bog with a stone around her neck so that she would never be found and that he had almost choked her to death on the night of June 19, 1997 when he picked her up from work.

His now 23-year-old victim told Mr Justice O’Sullivan she was glad the proceedings had come to an end and said all she had wanted was for her father to accept responsibility for what he had done to her but instead of that he put her through a seven-day trial.

"This brought back all the pain I experienced over those years as well as the embarrassment of having to tell my story in front of everyone in the court and the fear he would not be found guilty", she said.

She said she had just wanted "to live to this day so that my voice could be heard about how his actions destroyed my childhood and teenage years and also scattered the family apart".

She said she had no friends growing up because her father had kept her away from them. She could not have friends like other people her age because she had nothing exciting to talk about except pain and sadness. "My father’s actions imprisoned all my young life", she said.

She told Mr Justice O’Sullivan she still had nightmares about the night of June 19, 1997 and what might have happened if she had died that night.

She wasn’t looking for revenge but wanted "to get through to him what he did to me and to know why it all happened to me".

"I would like to be soaked for hours to recuperate. I wish to God I could be born again and have a normal life . He took away all my dreams and the plans I had but which I could not then go through with", she said.

The woman told Mr Justice O’Sullivan she was now "sick and tired" of constant counselling, and going in and out of hospitals for treatment for her difficulties which she was told were caused by stress and worry.

"I do not think it is going to end and can understand why people commit suicide", she said.

"I don’t know where to begin in my life again. I am locked in my life because of all this.

"I cannot even sit down and think properly as I’m always out of space because my mind is elsewhere. There are lots of ways this has affected me", she added.

Detective Garda Diane Murphy told Mr Gageby (with Ms Pauline Walley BL) that Naughton was born in England but returned to live with his family in Connemara when he was three-years-old.

He was separated from his wife since before the trial.

Det Gda Murphy, who investigated the case with Garda Noirin Feeney, said Naughton first raped his daughter in the family home on a Sunday morning when she was some nine years of age while the rest of the family were at mass. He then told her the facts of life.

The rape and buggery continued constantly over the coming years until she was 15, in the same way, and often at night when Naughton returned from the pub.

He also took her out in the car and raped her while parked on a lonely boithrín.

Det Gda Murphy said Naughton also showed his daughter pornographic videos of women having sex and of men and women in multiple sex scenes.

The victim didn’t make a formal written complaint until September 1997. She had collapsed at work the morning after the final rape in June 1997 and Naughton visited her in hospital threatening to kill her if she complained about what he did.

The jury heard her give evidence of one of these occasions when she told how he went asleep in the car after raping her on a lonely boithrin even though she told him she was very cold and they didn’t get home until about 3am.

He told her he often slept in the car at this place to avoid the Gardai after he had been drinking in various pubs. He also raped her once in their local school while he was painting it.

She told the jury she prayed she would come out alive the final time her father raped her on June 19, 1997 after he nearly choked her in his car. "I felt so depressed. I felt I was going to die at that stage. It was the worst day in my whole life".

She told the jury her father visited her in hospital twice in the days following and wanted to rape her again there in the bathroom because the story about him sexually assaulting her "was out".

He threatened her that after he spent some time in prison he would be back and she wasn’t to forget that. He ran off when she began screaming. She rang the bell for help after he left.

"I felt it was a horrific thing to live with and didn’t want to go on with him controlling me for the rest of my life", she said.

She said during cross-examination by Mr McCarthy that she witnessed Naughton beat up her mother and at other times saw her mother with black eyes. They had "a poor relationship".

The victim’s mother told the jury her husband changed her daughter’s doctor each time one of them began to query about possible abuse.

She said he would claim the doctors were "crazy" to ask her such questions so that the matter was never fully pursued.

She told defence counsel Mr McCarthy (with Mr John O’Donnell BL), in cross-examination, she had records in her handbag confirming his violence towards her which led to hospitalisation.