A man who told gardaí he had sexually abused his 14-year-old stepdaughter “to boost her confidence” has been jailed for seven years.
The now 20-year-old woman told the Central Criminal Court she felt she had no option but to leave home to find peace and safety and had to leave school early to move away.
She said she has been left suffering severe anxiety, stress and fear due to her stepfather’s actions.
The 72-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the woman’s identity, pleaded guilty to one count of rape, two counts of oral rape and three counts of sexual assault on dates between December 2020 and January 2021. He had no previous convictions.
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Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Patrick McGrath said after disclosures were made, the defendant made substantial submissions during his Garda interview. He also entered very early guilty pleas.
The judge said he heard a powerful victim-impact statement in which the injured party described the effects it had on her growing up.
He said the aggravating factors in the case were the huge age disparity between the injured party and the defendant, the breach of trust and that the offending was carried out in the family home where the injured party should have felt safe.
Mitigation in the case, the judge continued, was the full and early guilty pleas and the genuine remorse shown by the defendant. He sentenced him to nine years in prison. He then took into consideration the lack of previous convictions and that the defendant was in his 70s and that custody would be more difficult. He reduced the sentence to eight years in prison and suspended the final 12 months for two years and placed the man under post-release probation supervision
An investigating garda said the girl’s mother began a relationship with the accused in 2012 and they moved in together when the victim was around seven years old.
In 2023, a schoolteacher became concerned by the contents of an essay she wrote. She confirmed that she had been sexually abused by her mother’s partner and a Garda investigation began.
She told gardaí that the abuse occurred on three occasions. She said the first time her mother was out of the house when the accused came to her room. He told her, “you don’t’ deserve this Covid time and I want to help you”.
She said he began touching her, kissing, and he digitally penetrated her. She said on a second occasion, she was raped, forced to give him oral sex and sexually assaulted.
She said on that occasion she had been screaming, and he used his hand to cover her mouth.
She told gardaí there was a final incident in January 2021 when he sexually assaulted her and forced her to give him oral sex.
Her mother gave a statement saying she first became aware of what had occurred in March 2023 following an argument between her husband and daughter. Afterwards, her daughter disclosed she had been raped, and she confronted her husband, which was recorded by her daughter.
The man admitted “having sex” with the girl, denying it was rape. He said he was sorry for the hurt caused to her and her mother.
The man was interviewed by gardaí and told them he had been “empathising” with the girl and it had been an effort to “boost her confidence”.
