Dublin man pleads guilty to sexual assault of daughters

A north Co Dublin man has pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexually assaulting two of his daughters over 20 years ago.

The 60-year-old man's guilty pleas came on the second day of his trial after he had originally pleaded not guilty to 26 charges of indecent assault of one of his daughters on dates between 1985 and 1994.

He pleaded guilty after she had given evidence to three charges of indecently assaulting her on dates in 1985, 1988 and 1993, and also to one charge on another indictment to indecently assaulting a second daughter on a date in 1983.

Prosecuting counsel, Mr Patrick McCarthy SC (with Ms Sinéad McGrath BL), entered a 'nollle prosequi' on a third indictment in relation to another daughter.

Mr Justice Paul Butler directed that the man be registered as a sex offender and remanded him on continuing bail for mention of the case later to set a sentence date.

He is to sign on twice weekly at designated times at a north Dublin garda station as part of his bail bond.

Mr Justice Butler thanked the eight women and four men on the jury for their attention to what he described as "a distressing case" and exempted the members from further service for five years.

The man's plea came after one of the victims told Mr McCarthy she was five years old when the abuse began.

She said her father would call her in to his bedroom and get her to masturbate him while he would also digitally penetrate her and lick her private parts. She said this type of abuse happened nearly every day until she was about 13 years old.

She said that on Sunday mornings when her mother was out of the house, her father would show her pornographic videos and she would often see him masturbating himself in his bedroom.