Patrick O’Brien raped his daughter for 10 years — why is he not in jail?

NO less an authority than the Supreme Court has said that a non-custodial sentence in cases of rape should be “wholly exceptional” — so why is Patrick O’Brien still walking around today?

O’Brien, aged 72, of Old Court Avenue, in Bray, has been described by his daughter Fiona Doyle, who he systematically raped for 10 years, as a “demon” and “the devil”. It’s not hard to see why.

The abuse began when O’Brien raped his daughter, then 7, the night before her First Holy Communion.