Gerard Lawless: Evil soldier who sexually abused his stepdaughter told police it was ‘mutual’

Evil Gerard Lawless, who retired from the Irish armed forces in 2013, told his stepdaughter Danielle that child brides had consummated their marriages and then celebrated by hanging their “blood-stained sheets” in public.

Details of Lawless’ perverse campaign of abuse against Danielle can be revealed for the first time today.

In her first interview after the perverted pedophile was sentenced to ten years in prison, she says:

• When Lawless was arrested, he complained to police that he thought the sexual relationship was “reciprocated.”
• while abusing her, he surrounded himself with other potential victims by coaching underage soccer players;
• She broke her silence about the abuse and immediately went to the police when he arranged an appointment with her two daughters while she was at a wedding.

“The reason I’m giving up my anonymity,” says Danielle, “is in the hope that it will encourage other victims of his, if there are any, to come forward.”

“Especially when they were little boys, because I know it can be a lot harder for a man to speak his mind.

“But now it’s out there and they can be sure they will be believed.

On the day of his trial, 61-year-old Lawless pleaded guilty to four counts of oral rape and seven counts of sexual abuse of Danielle between 1991 and 1998.

The first count related to an incident when Danielle was just five years old, while the last two incidents occurred when she was about twelve years old.

Sentencing Lawless, Judge Paul McDermott said Danielle “had in fact been brought up and drawn into the world of Lawless’s sick games from a very young age and suffered from confused emotions throughout her childhood.”

He also expressed concern that the probation report found that Lawless had a “very distorted view” of what happened.

Speaking this week, Danielle said she was shocked to hear in court that Lawless continued to insist the incidents were based on “reciprocation”.

“During his interview with the Garda he said he believed it was some sort of reciprocal relationship,” she said.

“Basically he claimed that he gave love and I gave it back to him… that is the sick delusion he continues to suffer from.

“But I have two little daughters of my own, and they are now the same age as I would have been when he did this to me.

“And when I look at her, I think that no child could ever reciprocate or want or think that an adult would do something like that to them at their young age.

“The fact that he continues to hold on to this belief is unbelievable.

“He is a sick, sick person.”

Danielle said Lawless came into her life when she was a baby.

“I was almost two years old when he married my mother and then legally adopted me,” she said. “Even though he was my stepfather, I always thought of him as just my father.”

“I didn’t know he wasn’t my biological father until my ninth birthday – and even then it made no difference to me.

“He was just my father.

“Shortly before I turned six, he and my mother had a son.

“And that’s why I remembered so much about how the first incident happened.

“I was five. I remember my mother was heavily pregnant, so it happened two or three months before my sixth birthday.

“That was the first charge of oral rape, and from that moment on it was all over.

“I can’t say whether he planned it, whether he subtly prepared me in various ways beforehand, because the memories of it are no longer there.

“But after my brother was born, he already abused me.

“And he never gave my mother that attention again.

“Their sexual relationship ended and she now understands why that happened.”

In the years that followed, Lawless led a double life – on the one hand he was the perfect father and man of the community, while on the other hand he stalked his stepdaughter in a devious manner.

The whole time he was manipulating his innocent victim and making him believe that everything was fine.

“He and I were best friends,” Danielle remembers.

“He took me to the bookie, he took me for a doughnut, he took me to the movies.

“He looked after the whole family… he was an absolute role model.”

“He was well known in the area, in the community, in the football community and had a good reputation and a high standing.

“But it was all just an act.

“And he made it clear to me that everything was fine.

“He told me that while he was serving overseas he had seen child brides and that when they lost their virginity at 11 or 12, they hung up the bloody sheets and it was part of the party.

“He also watched a lot of children’s shows on channels like Nickelodeon and would make comments about the kids… for example, if he saw a 13-year-old, he would say what a great little boy she was.

“It was all part of the grooming process.”

The abuse continued until Danielle was 12, when Lawless told her “what they were doing was wrong and should remain secret.”

And it did so until Danielle grew up and had two daughters of her own.

“I was at a wedding in 2018,” Danielle said. “And since he was nearby, I asked my mom, who didn’t know about the incident, to look after her.

“It was at my partner’s mother’s house because I didn’t want him to come over… I didn’t want him to come near my girls.

“But while we were at the wedding, he invited himself to visit my daughters.

“When I found out the next day, I was devastated.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I did everything I could to protect her and keep him from being there, and yet he still managed to sneak in.

“I said, ‘I can’t let this happen… I can’t hide this… I don’t want him to ever see my daughters again.'”

When Danielle joined the Garda, her case was assigned to Sergeant Aisling Tidings in Clondalkin.

“She was amazing,” said Danielle. “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”

When she saw her stepfather face justice for his crimes last week, Danielle continued, she felt “like a stronger person.”

“I am pleased with the verdict,” she said. “Judge McDermott was very compassionate.

“He was obviously a father and grandfather himself and was absolutely disgusted.

“Gerard sat there the whole time – and didn’t look over at any of us once.

“He wrote an apology which he presented to the DPP.

“But it was a chicken scribble of about two and a half lines.

“It was self-serving babble and I couldn’t find anything there. I think he’s just sorry he got caught.”

“Because I was so young and was trained and supported by him, it was completely normal for me.

“But it was never normal.

“And what I want people to take away most from reading this is that it is never too late to get justice.

“People like him may feel like they’ve gotten away with it… they may feel comfortable where they are, but it’s never too late for the truth to catch up with them.

“I hope he never comes near a child again.”