Man gets 10-year sentence for raping offences

A Dublin man has been given a 10-year sentence by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court for raping female family members over a decade ago.

The 54-year-old married man pleaded guilty to 21 sample charges just before his trial on five counts of rape and indecent assault in relation to one of the victims was due to start in December.

Mr Justice White called for a review by An tSeirbhís Phriosúin of the position in which treatment courses for sex offenders appeared to be available only in the final two years of sentence.

He noted the man's desire to undergo treatment in custody and said he was concerned that he should be able to avail of this assistance sooner but added that he had no control over this matter.

The man who cannot be named for legal reasons faced a total of 49 charges on the indictment in relation to five female victims and one male victim.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of raping the women variously on dates in 1969, 1973 and 1978; five counts of indecently assaulting them on dates from 1969 to 1976; and 13 counts of indecently assaulting the male on dates from 1968 to 1971.

One of the women was aged 8 -9 years when raped; another was aged 11 years; and the third woman was 13 when raped. The male victim was aged 10-13 years when indecently assaulted. Most of the offences happened at two south-west Dublin suburban addresses and one at a swimming pool.

Mr Justice White directed that his name be added to the register of sex offenders and said that in this case he didn't believe there was any need for him to undergo post release supervision.

Mr Justice White said that while he considered the offences to be very serious he noted the Director of Public Prosecutions took a more serious view of them.

He noted that the man had not offended in the last 30 years and that the offending in relation to at least one of the female victims was known to all the parents in the family since the middle 1980s but apart from an assault on the man, nothing else was done about it.

Mr Justice White said the offences also happened some 30-40 years ago when "a less enlightened view was taken of such behaviour" and the penalties involved lighter sentences than nowadays.

He said he believed the appropriate sentence on the rape charges should be ten years and he suspended the final five years. He also imposed concurrent 18-month sentences on the indecent assault charges.