'You will be heard,' says Cork woman as her brother is jailed for raping her as a child
Niamh Herbert who was raped and abused by her brother, speaking to the media outside the Central Criminal Court after Emmett Baylor's sentencing in Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
A 47-year-old man who sexually abused and later raped his younger sister when he was aged between 12 and 16 was jailed for two-and-a-half years on Wednesday.
As Emmett Baylor was jailed, his sister Niamh Herbert encouraged people who were victims of such crimes to talk to the gardaí or, if they did not want to pursue the matter legally, to talk to a doctor or a counsellor or their local Rape Crisis Centre.
“If I can do it, you can do it, you have everything you need inside of you. Speak out, tell somebody, they will listen to you and there is support out there. You will be heard,” Ms Herbert said.
Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford said of Emmett Baylor: “The first offence was committed when he was 12 and had just turned 16 when it finished. He was an emotionally immature teenager. Maturity and the developmental reality of the accused have to be taken into consideration.”
Setting the headline sentence at seven years, which would have been set for an adult committing the crimes, this was halved because he was a juvenile and further reduced by another year because he had not come to adverse attention in the 30 years since it happened. His name now goes on the Sex Offenders Register.
Concluding the sentencing, Ms Justice Lankford said: “Sentence on an adult would be more significant. Bearing in mind his age at the time, the sentence of two-and-a-half years is appropriate.”
Speaking after the sentencing, Niamh Herbert said: “I was just a young girl when Emmet Baylor trapped me in a cycle of fear and abuse and made me a victim. I have lived with the pain and shame and have carried the secret for years.
“This journey for justice has been one of the most difficult times of my life. It feels like you have to give away a piece of yourself every step of the way. And there are days when you have no more to give. But I am glad I kept going.
"I stand here today not as a victim but as a strong woman who has got her long overdue justice. The jury gave me justice when they came back with the guilty verdict. Thank you for believing in me.
“The power of naming the person who abused me - naming the person who should be carrying that shame and taking that shame off of my shoulders.
Thanking the Victim Support at Court Service, the gardaí and in particular, Detective Garda Yvonne Cashman, Ms Herbert said she had an overwhelmingly supportive response since she waived her anonymity last week.
She also recalled on Wednesday sitting in her car outside garda stations trying to find the courage to report on what had happened to her from the age of six at the hands of her brother Emmett Baylor, and said that the guards will be there for people who make their complaint.
Asked about the feeling she had today as the sentencing was concluded, she said: “It is not a celebratory type of feeling but I feel lighter, I feel that justice has been served. And I know that not everybody gets as far as me – they don’t all get the case brought to court, they don’t get the verdict of guilty. I am leaving here, fulfilled, with justice having been served.
Detective Garda Yvonne Cashman said sexual assaults and rapes were carried out on occasions when Ms Herbert was aged from six to nine, and Baylor was 13 to 16, the age difference between brother and sister being just over six years. The rapes occurred in the latter part of this three-year period.
They were both adopted. Their father gave a character reference for his son.
Det. Garda Cashman said Emmett Baylor, aged 47, worked with Irish Lights, but had lost his job as a result of this case. He is not married and does not have children.
Defence senior counsel, Alice Fawsitt, said the defendant did not accept the guilty verdict of the jury. She asked for as much leniency as possible.
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