Man jailed for repeatedly raping daughter and threatening her at knifepoint in Limerick
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was jailed for 16-and-a-half years on Monday at the Central Criminal Court. File picture
A teenager who was sexually abused, orally raped and threatened at knifepoint by her father has told a court that she thought she would “never make it out alive”.
The now 19-year-old was delivering her victim impact statement during the sentencing of her 39-year-old father.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was jailed for 16-and-a-half years on Monday at the Central Criminal Court.
The court heard that during one of the incidents of abuse he made her put on her mother’s lingerie before he placed her on the kitchen table and tried to rape her.
The man was convicted on 25 charges following a trial in Limerick last January. The charges include attempted rape, oral rape, sexual assault, threatening to kill her and forcing her to watch pornography.
The abuse occurred between 2017 and 2021 in the family home in Limerick when the girl was aged between 11 and 15 years old.
The man had pleaded not guilty to the offences. He continues to deny the charges and does not accept the jury’s verdict.
The woman stated in her victim impact statement that she tried to take her own life in May 2024 and if it were not for her brother, she would not be here today.
“I fought so hard. I never gave up. I will proudly stand here today. You are not my father in any shape or form. I am no longer in fear of you. I look at you with disgust and shame,” she said.
“I never thought I would make it out alive but I did,” she continued, adding that the man was someone who should have “protected and loved me”.
“I hope you never lay your hand on another person,” she concluded her statement.
Sentencing the man on Monday, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said the teenager’s victim impact statement was “invaluable” and showed how this “caring and kind little girl” is still struggling to deal with the impact the abuse had on her.
He said it was a serious case as it involved the “ongoing abuse of his own daughter”, the threats to kill her which “left her genuinely fearing for her life” and the additional degradation of forcing her to wear her mother’s lingerie.
Mr Justice Naidoo said a headline sentence of 18 years was appropriate before he imposed an 18-year sentence and suspended the final 18 months of that term on strict conditions.
A local garda told Diana Stuart SC, prosecuting, that the offences occurred over seven specific incidents.
During one incident, he grabbed the child by the throat and told her he would kill her “stone divine dead” if she ever said anything to anyone about the abuse.
On another occasion he placed a knife against the girl’s throat and she feared he was going to cut her throat. He also forced her to watch pornography on television.
The garda said on the final incident the man was abusing the child when she thought she heard her mother coming. He told her to go to bed but the following morning he woke her at 6am after her mother had gone to work.
He instructed her to get into her mother’s side of the bed and later made her put on her mother’s lingerie. The man placed the child on the kitchen table and tried to rape her. That incident came to an end when he heard her brother getting up for school.
The teenager ultimately made a complaint to gardaà and the man was arrested and questioned in March 2024. He denied the offences and suggested to officers that the child’s mother was “putting her up to it”.
The man has 19 previous convictions including a six-year jail term for threatening to kill or cause serious harm. He has worked for a number of years as a landscaper.
The woman said in her victim impact statement that she was left with “scars and shame” that will “forever be there”.
She said her father left her with “fear, numbness, disgust and shame” and made her “into someone who did not want to live their life anymore”.
She said she “fought so hard” and “kept praying for you to stop”.
The woman stated that at one point she “knew I could not take it anymore, all that was in my mind was suicide — that was the only way my mind would be at peace”.
She said she finally reported him in 2023 when he mentioned that they were going away for a week.
- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.
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