Man who repeatedly raped his ‘vulnerable’ stepdaughter jailed for 11.5 years – The Irish Times

A man who repeatedly raped his 12-year-old stepdaughter over a two-month period a decade ago in an “outrageous” crime has been sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison.

The man abused the girl four times in 2014 while she was lying in her bed and once while she was sleeping on the floor in her siblings’ room, hoping to avoid him.

After the second incident, she confided in her mother, but he abused her twice more, including on Christmas Eve, the Central Criminal Court heard.

During the abuse, he put his hand over her mouth and on one occasion he bit her breasts and pulled her hair, leaving clumps of it on her pillow.

The man, now 41, was found guilty by a jury of three counts of rape, two counts of anal rape and one count of sexual abuse of the girl in her family home in the southeast of the country during a trial at the Central Criminal Court in Waterford earlier this year.

The abuse took place in November and December 2014, when she was 12 and he was 31 years old, the verdict was announced on Friday.

Social services looked after the family and the girl, who was described as vulnerable, was taken into care. Her mother had mental health problems, the court heard.

The man continued to deny abusing the girl and claimed she had “twisted” her childhood to get revenge on him, Judge Karen O’Connor noted in sentencing on Friday. The defence lawyer told the court he planned to appeal.

Judge O’Connor noted that the plaintiff in this case grew up in a “chaotic environment” and suffered neglect during her childhood. “She was a vulnerable person from a difficult background,” the judge said.

She found that the man acted like a stepfather to the girl and was a father figure as he abused her in the “sanctuary” of her own bed in her own home. The offence had an element of “brutality”, the judge said. “She was abused in an egregious manner,” the judge said.

She referred to a victim statement saying she spent many years dealing with the effects of the abuse and her traumatic childhood and then built a good life for herself “surrounded by people who love, care for and support her,” the judge said.

The judge praised the young woman’s courage in openly addressing the abuse.

The judge noted that the man continued to maintain his innocence and did not accept the jury’s verdicts. He had no previous convictions and a good work history, the court said.

Judge O’Connor set the original sentence at 13.5 years and reduced it to 11.5 years, retroactively dating the sentence to the date of his incarceration in March.