Sligo man admits raping daughters over a 16-year period

An elderly Sligo man who raped and indecently assaulted his two daughters over a 16-year period will be sentenced next week at the Central Criminal Court.

One daughter told gardaí she first recalled her father touching her while she lay on her bed with her legs apart when she was between five and 10-years-old.

She said it must have happened like this before even though this was her earliest memory, because she had not felt the situation was unusual at the time.

The woman’s younger sister told gardaí that when she tried to tell her mother about the abuse sometime before her teens, her father was violent towards her as a warning.

The man (aged 65) who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty on his trial date to 16 sample counts of indecent assault, unlawful sexual intercourse, rape and buggery of two daughters between 1980 and 1996 at a Sligo location.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and two counts each of unlawful sexual intercourse and buggery of one daughter on dates between August 1980 and August 1986.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and two counts each of oral and anal rape of the second daughter on dates between September 1984 and June 1996.

Detective Garda Colleen O’Neill revealed that the man gave his older daughter a drink of what she now suspects was alcohol from a silver flask before he first raped her when she was between 10 and 11-years-old.

Det Gda O’Neill told Mr Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, that the man first anally raped this daughter sometime in 1982 when he got her to go down on all fours in a bedroom while she was still in her school uniform.

The woman told gardaí that her father made her perform oral sex on him around the time of her Inter Cert secondary school exams while her mother was away from home.

Det Gda O’Neill revealed that the abuse happened so frequently the woman can only pinpoint certain incidents.

Det Gda O’Neill told Mr Greene that the younger daughter recalled having to masturbate her father and perform oral sex on him each morning after she had dressed for school from when she was about five-years-old.

She told gardaí she would sometimes have to pull down her clothes and turn around while her father examined her.

She said she recalled father trying unsuccessfully to have anal sex with her one night when she was between six and seven-years-old.

Det Gda O’Neill said the man started anally raping this second daughter when the family moved house as he had “easy access” to her bedroom.

The detective garda said the first complainant moved away from home after her younger sister told her about the abuse.

The younger sister told gardaí that the abuse of her continued until she had enough money saved to move out.

Det Gda O’Neill told Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy that the man had “ruled his home with an iron fist”, that he was aggressive and violent towards all members of the family and would not allow the first complainant or her mother go to bed until he had come home from the pub drunk.

The first complainant, reading from her victim impact statement, described growing up in a “house of hell” and being denied an education because of the abuse.

She said she still has flashbacks and has had a number of operations to fix physical problems she suffered from the years of abuse.

The woman revealed she has been left feeling “dirty, damaged and scared”.

Det Gda O’Neill read the second complainant’s victim impact statement in which she also described losing out on an education because she could not study.

The woman said she suffers panic attacks, cannot hold down a job and tried to take her own life by taking an overdose during her teens.

She said her childhood was taken from her “in the worst possible way” by a man who “should not and does not deserve to be called a father.”

She added that she will continue to need counselling for a long time.

Mr Thomas O’Malley BL, defending (with Mr Brendan Grehan SC) submitted to Mr Justice McCarthy that his client pleaded guilty to the serious charges which has spared both complainants the trauma of a trial.

He said a doctor’s report indicated his client has had psychological and alcohol related problems.

He submitted that his client says he has no recollection of the assaults but accepts responsibility for them and is “extremely sorry and saddened”.

Mr O’Malley asked the judge to take his client’s age and health into consideration when imposing sentence and to give him some light at the end of the tunnel.

Mr Justice McCarthy remanded the man in custody pending sentence next week.

He had previously declared the man a sex offender.