Pensioner, 73, to be jailed for two years for brutal rape of girl, 6, in 1979

A pensioner who brutally raped a six-year-old girl in 1979 will be jailed for two years after prison authorities assess how his medical care needs will be met in custody.

Dan Flynn (76), a Co Tipperary resident, was 36-years-old when he raped the small child. He now suffers from a range of medical issues including Parkinson's Disease.

His victim, now a married mother, told the Central Criminal Court that Flynn, a farm labourer who had lived with his late mother, was a “cruel, bad tempered man” whom she was afraid of as a child.

She was visiting Flynn's mother at his home when he grabbed her and threw her on his bed, telling her: “I have got you now.”

He raped the child before spitting into her face and stepping over her as she lay on the ground. “As if I was nothing,” said the victim.

The woman said looking back she had been traumatised all her life and in 2017 began remembering “piece by piece” what had happened. She suffered vivid flashbacks and felt sick to her stomach.

“It makes me very angry that it was covered up and nothing was done,” she told the court.

There was nothing wrong with Dan Flynn when he sexually assaulted me all those years ago.

Flynn pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the child at his home on a date in 1979.

Mr Justice Michael White said a practical challenge in this case was balancing the circumstances of the offence, which he described as having elements of “severe brutality and unusual cruelty”, against the age and ill health of Flynn.

“It is difficult to imagine the actual brutality involved in raping a six-year-old child,” said the judge.

He said there had to be an element of a custodial sentence despite Flynn's age and ill health.

Mr Justice White set a headline sentence of nine years. He then took into account mitigating factors such as Flynn's lack of previous convictions and plea of guilty.

He imposed a sentence of six years and suspended four years due to the serious challenges for Flynn and the prison authorities in dealing with his chronic ill health while in custody.

The judge adjourned the commencement of the sentence until June 19, next to allow the prison authorities time to assess a suitable facility for Flynn.

Mr Justice White commended the woman's “tremendous courage” in coming forward and said the court had been shocked by the great cruelty of the offence.

Colman Cody SC, defending, said he had instructions from Flynn to offer an apology to the woman.

During the sentence hearing, Mr Justice White asked Mr Cody if his client had any explanation for the “barbaric cruelty” which accompanied the offence.

Mr Cody said there were some communication difficulties with his client but he could not offer an explanation and accepted it aggravated the matter.

A local garda told Michael Bowman SC, prosecuting, that the victim had been indecently assaulted by Flynn prior to the rape on two occasions.

He threw her onto a bed on a further occasion but told her to get out after she began crying.

The child was helping Flynn's mother with laundry when the woman asked her to bring some clothes up to Flynn's room. Flynn was home sick from work and the child sneaked into his room.

He turned in the bed and grunted at her. She was frightened and crawled under the bed but he grabbed her by the legs and threw her on the bed. “I have got you now,” Flynn told the child.

Flynn raped the child on the bed.

Flynn's mother came into the room and said: “Jesus Dan, what have you done to her?”

The victim said Flynn told his mother “Ah she will be alright.” Flynn's mother told him to bring her into her bedroom and the child described how he picked her up and threw her onto his mother's bed.

Flynn's mother gave the child a bowl of ice cream which she vomited back up.

The child's grandmother arrived at the house and the child could hear shouting going on before her grandmother burst into the bedroom and exclaimed: “Sweet mother of Jesus.”

She told the child “I have you now” and brought her home to bed. The child, who was covered in blood and bruises, thought she was dying. She said her mother did not come into the room.

The child's father arrived later and asked what had happened. Her grandmother told him that she had fallen off her bike. “Remember the story is you fell off your bike,” she had told the victim.

The victim said her grandmother and Flynn's mother never spoke to each other again.

In her victim impact statement, which she read to the court, the woman said she had struggled at school after the offence as she was so traumatised.

“At home I was afraid of the dark, I did not sleep and had nightmares when I did,” she said.

She said her relationship with her mother, who never acknowledged what had happened, had suffered. “In her eyes I am the problem,” she told the court.

All I wanted was my mother to love and support me.

Mr Cody said Flynn lived and worked all his life in Co Tipperary. He lived a sheltered life and had never been in a serious relationship.

Flynn's mother, a widow, died when he was 40 years old.

He said Flynn suffered a number of medical conditions including Parkinson's and hypertension.

Mr Cody asked the court to take into account his clients circumstances and guilty plea.