Kilkenny paedophile jailed for 10 years

A south Kilkenny paedophile who "groomed" his victim with games of strip poker and video-recorded one of his sexual assaults on her has been jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.

"I could have killed him if a gun hadn't been locked away safely," the victim said in her impact statement.

"He needs to realise how much he hurt me. His little bribes to keep my silence made me feel cheap."

She said that for 19 years she had "lived with his dirty secret" because she felt she could not tell anyone for fear of not being believed and she often wished she and her abuser were dead and added: "He should never be let near children again."

The 50-year-old man pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and 22 of indecent and sexual assault on dates from 1990 to 1997.

Mr Ronan Kennedy BL, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Carney the Director of Public Prosecutions considered this case to be "on the higher end of the scale in terms of the aggravating factors".

Mr Kennedy said these included the victim's age and vulnerability, the nature and duration of the abuse and that the man continued it after his behaviour had been detected.

Mr Justice Carney directed that the man's name be entered on the register of sex offenders and that he should undergo five years post release supervision.

He said the aggravating factors included the multiplicity of offences involved and their duration which numbered at least 364 occasions, though the court was dealing only with sample charges.

"He introduced his victim at the tender age of six or seven years to the game of strip poker in order to groom her and made a video recording of one of his outrages," Mr Justice Carney said.

He assessed the case as meriting a 14 years sentence and said that considering such mitigating factors as were available in the man's favour, including his good behaviour while on bail and his early guilty plea, the court could discount four years.

Mr Justice Carney imposed concurrent 10-year terms for the rapes and five years for the indecent and sexual assaults to date from now and he rejected an application by Mr Robert O'Neill BL for a certificate for leave to appeal severity of sentence.

Defence counsel, Mr John O'Kelly SC (with Mr O'Neill), noted earlier that a medical report on his client stated: "Quite clearly he is a paedophile."

He submitted that his client was a person of "borderline intelligence" who knew when abusing the victim that what he was doing was wrong but didn't realise fully then the harm it could do to a child.

"He now knows how serious it was and is terrified at the harm and hurt he has caused," Mr O'Kelly said. "He has asked me to apologise fully to the victim."

Mr O'Kelly added that his client "fully admitted his wrongdoing since day-one" and pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity.

Garda Verena Fenlon told Mr Kennedy that the victim said she "washed over and over" when he abused her. "He took all my self-confidence away from me and ran all my boyfriends off due to his jealous behaviour."

Garda Fenlon said the man admitted his wrong-doing when interviewed by gardaí and co-operated fully with the investigation. He had no previous convictions but faces sentence soon in another court for sexual offences in relation to another victim which he admitted when interviewed on this matter.