A “monster” who sexually assaulted his daughter and sister-in-law when they were children has been jailed for nine years.
At Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, Judge Sinéad McMullan lifted a ban on identifying Christopher O’Mahony (67) after hearing his daughter Emma O’Shaughnessy and sister-in-law Helen Costelloe had waived their right to anonymity.
O’Mahony, of Kerrykyle, Ardagh, Co Limerick, was charged with 54 counts on indictment and pleaded guilty to 18 sample counts of sexually and indecently assaulting the girls on dates in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The effects on both victims was very profound, undoubtedly these little girls were subjected to huge suffering,” the judge said.
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Speaking after the verdict, Ms O’Shaughnessy, who has described her father as a “monster” and a “paedophile”, and Ms Costelloe said they wanted to encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward so as to break the stigma and to bring abusers to justice.
They also called for more supports for rape crisis centres in order to cut waiting lists for abuse victims to see councillors.
Ms Costelloe, who was sexually abused by O’Mahony when aged between nine and 14, said she was “three years” on a waiting list to see a counsellor after she sought help at a rape crisis centre.
“There should be more supports out there, speedier supports, but once you get it, it’s absolutely brilliant,” she said. “I would say it has helped me immensely.”
Ms O’Shaughnessy, who was abused by her father when aged 10 to 13, said an accused’s legal team can request notes from a complainant’s psychiatrist or your counsellor” and this “put me off seeking help” because she did not want her abuser to be able to “pick through my thoughts and feelings without my consent”.
The court heard that the abuse emerged after a family meeting on July 4th, 2021, at which Ms Costelloe disclosed she had been abused by O’Mahony and Ms O’Shaughnessy told her family she had also been abused by her father.
Three days later, O’Mahony, accompanied by his wife, presented himself at Henry Street Garda station and admitted to the abuse.
The judge said O’Mahony used his daughter and sister-in-law as “objects” for his personal sexual enjoyment, which was a “huge breach of trust”.
“When your father is your abuser that is an egregious breach of trust, a parent is supposed to be their child’s protector,” the judge said.
She noted that O’Mahony warned the then children not to talk about the abuse, telling Ms Costelloe it was their secret and Ms O’Shaughnessy “to keep her mouth shut” and not tell her mother.
The judge said there were a number of offences she deemed to be particularly serious. These included O’Mahony sexually assaulting Ms O’Shaughnessy in the bathroom of their home under the pretext of applying acne cream, and forcing himself on Ms Costelloe as she was using a public toilet in Glin in 1987.
“She was terrified full intercourse might happen and she fought back, and that’s when the sexual abuse stopped,” the judge said of the latter incident.
In her victim-impact statement, which she read out at a previous sitting, Ms O’Shaughnessy said the abuse left her feeling “like maggots were crawling under my skin” and that she scrubbed herself until she bled.
O’Mahony began sexually abusing Ms Costelloe after he married her sister, who is 12 years her senior, and he moved into their family home. He arranged that Ms Costelloe would wash his hair and abused her while she carried out the chore.
She said the abuse “seeped into every crevice of my life, and my innocence as a child was robbed”.
Lily Buckley, prosecuting, said the victims’ family “still struggle to accept the truth”. The judge said she hoped the family rift would “heal in time”.
The court was told that O’Mahony did not disagree with any of the evidence against him.
