A Dublin man has been jailed for three years after sexually assaulting four of his nieces for a period of 12 years. The assaults took place during the children’s visits to his home on dates between December 1, 1991 and December 18, 2003.
The 55-year-old, whom cannot be named to protect identity of the victims, was pleaded guilty to a total of 22 counts of sexual assault. Among the victims, three of them were under age when the assaults began. The victims were aged between nine and 19 years old when he started abusing them.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that he abused one victim while she was babysitting his children and abused another while she was in a bed in the same room as his sleeping daughter.
Judge also noted the conduct of the accused was “opportunistic, but persistent”. She said the offending lasted for a “considerable duration” and involved a “considerable breach of trust”.
She said the court takes into account the emotional and psychological distress that the victims have carried for many years. She said each of them had shown “dignity and courage” by coming to court and giving accounts of the impact this has had on them.
The judge said while the accused’s offending is “morally deplorable”, the court must acknowledge it does not feature the most egregious aspects as defined by law at that time. She said that at the time of the offending, the maximum sentence for sexual assault was five years imprisonment.
The accused has no previous convictions and the court took this in to consideration while sentencing him. His previous good character, his personal circumstances, his solid work history and the testimonials and character references submitted on his behalf.
Judge Codd sentenced the man to six months imprisonment for his offences against the first victim and four months imprisonment for his offence against the second victim, ordering both sentences to run concurrent to each other.
She also sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment for his offences against the third victim and two-and-a-half years imprisonment for his offences against the fourth victim, ordering both to run consecutive to each other and the previous sentences.
Judge Codd then suspended the final year of the sentences for a total operating sentence of four years imprisonment with the final one-year suspended. She ordered the suspension on strict conditions, including that the man not having any contact with the victims or have unsupervised access to children.
The abuse was first reported by one of the victims in 2016. The later investigations revealed the full scale of the man’s abusive behaviour and assaults.