Dublin father jailed for 14 years for abuse of daughter

A Dublin father has been sentenced to 14 years in prison with the final two years suspended for the sexual and physical abuse of his daughter.

During a nine-day trial last April a jury at the Central Criminal Court returned verdicts of guilty on 20 counts of sexual assault, 19 counts of oral rape and 19 counts of anal rape on dates between 2001 and 2006.

The jury also found the 40-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty of intentionally or recklessly causing the girl serious harm by scalding her with water from a kettle at the family home on a date between August 2003 and April 2004.

Mr Justice Barry White said the accused’s “offensive behaviour was a serious breach of trust in relation to his daughter who was quite clearly in a vulnerable position”.

“Your daughter suffered profoundly as a result of your behaviour,” Mr Justice White told the accused.

The accused man’s daughter said in her victim impact statement that she is now “a person with the inability to trust anyone easily and struggles to maintain relationships”.

“I have chronic nightmares and have been in therapy for years and I am still struggling to come to terms with what happened to me,” she said.

“I have never known what it was like to have a proper father and I lost my childhood and have been denied a right to live a normal life.

“The scarring on my body leaves me too embarrassed to wear certain clothing for fear people would see the scars.

“I am delighted now that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and justice has been done and I want to put it all behind me in the hope that one day I can lead a normal life,” said the now 21-year-old woman.

Mr John Peart SC, defending, said the accused’s family believed he is a good man and the “verdict is out of character”.

“He is a hardworking man who always had his children properly fed and dressed and kept the house in order,” said Mr Peart.

Mr Justice White declared the accused, who has two previous convictions for malicious wounding and being drunk and disorderly, a sex offender and refused leave to appeal his sentence and conviction.