Court upholds life sentence for man who raped his granddaughter and nephew multiple times

Fiona Magennis

A “deviant father figure” jailed for life after he “coldly engaged in a remorseless campaign of rape” against his granddaughter and nephew has had his sentence upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The court found the sentence of life imprisonment was within the discretion of the sentencing judge, noting the man ruled the family “with an iron fist” and “brutally sexually assaulted these young and vulnerable children” in what it described as an “egregious breach of trust”.

The 69-year-old patriarch of the family was convicted following a Central Criminal Court trial of 24 charges including two charges of anally raping his granddaughter and 22 charges against his nephew - 12 charges of anal rape and 10 charges of oral rape. He had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

The man’s granddaughter was aged between nine and 11 when the abuse occurred while his nephew was aged between seven and 11.

His sentencing hearing was told he did not accept the verdicts of the jury and continues to maintain his innocence.

At the time the life sentence was handed down, the man was already serving a 16-year jail term for sexually abusing two of his daughters, one of whom bore his child after she became pregnant when she was 17.

Dismissing the appeal against his life sentence on Friday, Judge Isobel Kennedy described the offending as “violent, degrading and humiliating”.

Judge Kennedy said a life sentence for rape offending is within the discretion of the sentencing judge and may be imposed in exceptional circumstances.

“In our view, this is without doubt one of those cases,” she said. “This appellant coldly engaged in a remorseless campaign of rape. He brutally sexually assaulted these young and vulnerable children.”

She said the aggravating factors in the case included the “enormous and egregious breach of trust” by the patriarch who was in a dominant role, the fact that the two victims were children, the prolonged nature of the offending and the impact of the abuse, which was “deep and long-lasting".

She said the man’s granddaughter had been very young when the abuse took place, the sexual acts were “violent and forceful”, he ignored her obvious distress, and she was left bleeding as a result of his actions.

She described the defendant’s abuse of his nephew as “violent, degrading, painful, humiliating and an egregious breach of trust”.

She said the boy was “particularly vulnerable", having been fostered by the man and his wife after suffering a tragedy in his life.

The man has 185 previous convictions, including 99 for the sexual abuse of two of his daughters.

In November 2023, Judge Mary Ellen Ring sentenced him to life imprisonment on all 24 counts, with the sentences to run concurrently.

She backdated the sentence to when he went into custody in June 2019 in relation to the earlier 16-year jail term imposed in February 2021 for the abuse of his daughters.

The man and his three sons, who are all in their 40s, were convicted following a three-week trial in 2023 of a total of 115 counts of sexually abusing four family members, who were children at the time.

The man's wife, who is in her 60s, was jailed for two years for assisting one of her sons after he anally raped her granddaughter and for one count of assaulting the same child.

The four complainants in the case were the couple's daughter, their granddaughter and their two nephews, whom the couple fostered for a period of time.

The man appealed his sentence for the abuse of his granddaughter and nephew, arguing that the whole life term was excessively severe given his age - 66 at the time of sentencing - and health issues.

His senior counsel Michael Bowman also suggested the judge should have taken the existing 16-year sentence into account instead of imposing a separate life sentence.

He submitted the offences in this case took place during the same time period as the charges the appellant had already been sentenced for in February 2021.

He said that, had all the matters been included on the same indictment, it did not necessarily follow that a life sentence would have been imposed.

Judge Kennedy said the submission that the sentence may have been a lesser one had all the offending been dealt with together was “difficult to understand”.

She said if all matters had been dealt with together the possibility of consecutive sentences “could not be excluded”.

“No unfairness arises as a result of two separate prosecutions, particularly where both sentences were backdated to the same date,” she said.

Bowman had also suggested the man was “bearing an additional punishment” because the sentencing court may have taken the view that the brothers learned the offending from him and treated this as an aggravating factor.

Judge Kennedy rejected this proposition, saying the judge was assiduous in her examination and recitation of the evidence before her.

“We find no error in her approach,” she said.

Judge Kennedy also dismissed the suggestion that the man’s age at the time of sentence should operate to mitigate his sentence.

“Even if he were a greater age, there are cases which are so egregious that a lengthy custodial sentence must follow,” she said.

The judge said the appellant’s health issues were “not serious” and could be addressed in a custodial setting.

Imposing sentence in November 2023, Judge Ring said the man was a “deviant father figure who abused and mistreated his wife and children, his grandchild and extended relatives”.

She said the man has exhibited no remorse or acceptance for his offending against the young, vulnerable children in his care.

The trial heard that the alleged offences occurred between 1999 and 2005 in various locations around the country. All of the parties are members of an extended Traveller family.

Judge Ring said the patriarch of the family perpetrated violent and sexual abuse on his wife and child relatives.

“He relentlessly preyed on family members with violence and deviance,” she said. “Chillingly, his sons learned to abuse and rape from their father.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.