A woman who reported her older brother for abusing and raping her when she was a child as she feared that he would harm others has said “justice has been done” after he was jailed for 2½ years on Wednesday.
Niamh Herbert (41) waived her right to anonymity at a sentencing hearing for her brother Emmett Baylor (47) at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Herbert recalled sitting outside Garda stations in 2018, “willing herself to find the courage and strength to walk inside” to report the harm inflicted on her when she was aged between six and nine years old.
Baylor of Hilltop, Youghal, Co Cork, was found unanimously guilty last month on a number of charges including sexual assaults, indecent assaults and oral rapes.
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Det Garda Yvonne Cashman said that the offences occurred when Baylor was aged 13 to 16.
Det Garda Cashman said that Baylor lost his job at sea with Irish Lights following his conviction.
Ms Herbert last week presented her own victim impact statement from the witness box. She described delivering the statement as being “painful” in nature.
“There are no words to sum up a lifetime of damage, but I have to try.
“I was just a little girl when you started to abuse me, and made me a victim. You trapped me for years in a cycle of fear and terror.
“Countless nights I lay in bed frozen in fear, counting footsteps, terrified of what might come next and those memories haunt me to this day.
“The terror didn’t stop when the sexual abuse ended. I still grieve for the childhood and youth you stole from me, for the years of innocence and joy I will never get back.”
Ms Herbert said she turned to drugs and alcohol at the age of 13 to “numb the pain and quiet the torture” in her mind.
Ms Herbert said Baylor turned to lies and manipulation to try to gain sympathy to serve himself.
“I am a grown woman now and you can’t hurt me any more,” she said.
Ms Herbert thanked all of the professionals who worked on the case, including Det Garda Cashman. She also thanked her husband Paul, brother Martin and friends for their support as well as the jury for believing her.
Defence senior counsel, Alice Fawsitt, said that her client was as young as 12 when the offences on which he was convicted started.
Baylor received a character reference from his father Brendan. The court heard that Ms Herbert and her brother Baylor were adopted.
In sentencing Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said the evidence given by Ms Herbert was compelling in nature.
She said Baylor had stolen the childhood of Ms Herbert in what should have been a period of “innocence and joy”.
Ms Justice Lankford said a larger custodial sentence would have been imposed on an adult for the same offences. However, Baylor was a young teenager when a large amount of the offending behaviour occurred.
Ms Justice Lankford jailed Baylor for 2½ years and said there was no basis for a further reduction given the failure of the accused to accept the jury’s verdict. He was also placed on the sex offenders register.
Speaking outside the court, Ms Herbert said that she felt “lighter” having received justice for the abuse she had been subjected to by her brother.
She called on others in her position to contact gardaí or to speak to someone.
“Anyone who has been in my shoes or is living with it at the moment, it is very difficult to take that step to come forward. It was always on my mind and I was waiting to build up the courage to do it,” she said.
“The guards will be there for you. I’d like to say to anybody: if I can do it, you can do it. You have everything inside of you. Speak out, tell somebody and they will listen to you.”
“You deserve to live a peaceful life,” she added.
