'Monster' man jailed for three years for sexually assaulting his young niece

A “monster” who sexually abused his young niece when he was a teenager over 40 years ago, has been jailed for three years.

The man (59), who can't be named to protect the anonymity of his victim, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of attempted rape and four counts of indecent assault.

The victim was aged between six and 13 when the abuse occurred on various dates between 1977 and 1984 at her family home and at her grandparents' house in Co Offaly.

The man is her uncle and was aged between 13 and 19 at the time, subjecting her to “unspeakable trauma”.

The court heard that the abuse started with the man kissing the girl when she was about six. Over time, the abuse escalated to include inappropriate touching over and under her clothes, forced masturbation, oral sex, and attempted rape.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said her uncle hid his true nature, describing him as a “monster”, “predator” and “sexual deviant”.

“While destroying my life, he has sailed happily through his,” she said. The woman said the decision to report the “catalogue of abuse” she was subjected to by her uncle was the “hardest decision I've ever had to make”.

She said putting what happened into words has been as “traumatising” as the flashbacks, and her decision to speak to gardai was not taken with “malicious intent”.

The woman said she had been emotionally “destroyed all my life,” feeling “dirty, useless and broken”. She spoke of her childhood, noting, “My life should have been idyllic and not the nightmare I had to endure, suffer and survive”.

She said her mother is also dealing with the “horror” of her brother's actions.

“My mother has so many unanswered questions. How could her own brother do that to her own child?  How could he abuse me when she welcomed him to stay in our family home? He should have protected me but instead chose to abuse her trust over and over.”

She said she was terrified of her uncle and didn't understand what was happening: “He got pleasure out of hurting me and calling me vile and disgusting names”.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the woman provided a “very detailed and focused” impact statement, which outlined the long-lasting effects of the abuse on her life.

“In telling her story, she’s acted in a way that the court regards as courageous...it is very difficult for a child victim of sexual abuse to tell that story”, he said.

Mr Justice McDermott said he would impose a sentence of 12 years on an adult in relation to the attempted rape count but would reduce it to four years as the man was aged between 13 and 16 at the time.

“It is clear he knew what he was doing was wrong, given the secret way he went about it and the advantage he took of the absence of adults...he must have known he was hurting her as she was crying and begging him to stop,” the judge said, adding that the abuse continued until the man was 19, an adult and working.

The court heard these are sample counts, and the pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions on a full facts basis.

He handed the man a global sentence of four years, with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions. He backdated the sentence to March 11, when the man went into custody and directed him to place himself under the supervision of the Probation Services for two years post-release.

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At a previous hearing, the court heard that on one occasion, the teenager was in the girl's family home while her parents were in the garden.

The then nine-year-old tried to hide from him, but he found her, then pushed her to the floor and attempted to penetrate her vagina. She told him to stop and was so terrified he was going to split her in half that she didn't scream out. Afterwards, he left the room, and the girl went to wash as she felt dirty.

The girl's family moved abroad in the early 1980s, but the abuse continued when she visited her grandparents. When the girl said she would tell her mother, her uncle told her no one would believe her.

The court heard the abuse stopped before she turned 13. She made a complaint to gardaí in 2021. The man voluntarily went to a local garda station and made some admissions when interviewed.