'She has nightmares about the monster': Man, 78, jailed for sexually abusing his toddler granddaughter

Child first revealed abuse to her mother during nightly story time, when a passage in a children's book was a trigger for the girl to make the disclosure, court heard

Court heard after an initial denial of what the child described, the defendant ultimately admitted to the family what he had done when challenged by the child’s parents. Picture: Dan Linehan

Warning: The following article contains details some readers may find distressing

A 78-year-old man who sexually abused his own four-year-old granddaughter was jailed on Monday four and a half years.

Judge Helen Boyle sentenced him to six years with the last year and a half suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. 

The judge said the very young age of the victim and the breach of trust by a figure of authority were aggravating factors, while the plea of guilty was a mitigating factor.

Nightly story time where the child’s mother read story books to her daughter proved to be the opportunity the child used to disclose what was being done to her by her grandfather. A passage in a light-hearted children’s story proved to be the trigger for the child to make the disclosure.

Sergeant Sheena Dowling said after an initial denial of what the child described, the defendant ultimately admitted to the family what he had done when challenged by the child’s parents.

The child’s father said: “He groomed, used toys as weapons, threatened, tortured and abused a toddler, yet had unlimited access to any physical or mental medical care he needed. His innocent victim has not been as fortunate. Our baby was too young to get the help of a counsellor or psychologist.

“No words will capture the devastation the horrific abuse has had, and continues to have, on our beautiful daughter, who carries a burden that no child should. He should have been her protector to keep her safe. 

Her grandfather, 70 years her senior, inflicted anguish, confusion, fear, trauma, shame and anxiety on our four-year-old toddler. He was bullying, coercive and threatening to ensure his sadistic secrets would be kept.

“He warned her not to say anything. Looking back, she was always on alert. Every night in bed since she started preschool at three years old, she would ask us who was collecting her from preschool. She was checking every night if she would be in danger from her abuser the next day. 

Once the abuse came out, we explained it would always be either me or her mom collecting her in future and she then stopped asking who would be collecting her.

“Today, at eight years old, she has regular nightmares about the monster who abused her. She is frightened he knows where she lives and will come to get her.

“Despite our best efforts as parents, she has taken on the guilt and shame that should belong to the paedophile who destroyed her innocence and confidence. When she speaks about what she suffered, she covers her face with the bedsheets and regresses to a baby voice, [asking]: 'Why did he pick me? Why did he do those things to me? Did he not like me?' 

"She tells [her mother] she wishes she never told his secret because 'It's all my fault why you don't see your dad' and cries floods of tears.

“The degrading and humiliating things he did are still to the forefront of her mind. She still speaks of what he did to her little infant body as she begged him to stop.” 

The devastating repercussions throughout the family were described. The injured child’s parents even moved house and moved their children to new schools so they would not be near the defendant.

Donal O’Sullivan, defence senior counsel, said he understood the family believed an apology would be self-serving but he was instructed to express the apologies and remorse of the 78-year-old, who was never in any trouble in his life and could not explain why he behaved in the way that he did with his grandchild.

In disturbing evidence, of the sexual assaults, the evidence was that a child’s toy was incorporated into the sexual acts by the 78-year-old. Story time with the child’s mother was when the crimes were first described by the child. It was incorrectly reported previously that the grandfather was reading stories to the child.

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