Behaviour of father who abused his child described by judge as "most vile" and "terrifying"

A judge has jailed a man who sexually abused his young child, describing his actions as the “most vile, confusing, terrifying” behaviour.

The Central Criminal Court previously heard gardaí recovered a draft letter by the man to Tusla in which he acknowledged some of the abuse and said he'd studied paedophilia.

The court also heard that the man was separately convicted in 2023 of breaching court orders after he posted online describing sexual acts with the victim, implying they were consensual.

The 41-year-old man pleaded guilty to 11 sample counts including nine of sexual assault, one of rape and one of oral rape.

The offending took place between 2016 and 2018 at locations in Monaghan, Waterford and Portugal. The victim was between nine and 11 years old at the time.

On Tuesday, January 21, the man received a 13-year sentence with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions.

The abuse started with open-mouthed kissing and included inappropriate touching and forced masturbation. He also showed the girl pornography.

The abuse escalated after the family moved to Portugal. The girl's mother walked in while her husband was abusing their daughter. After this, she spoke to the girl, who outlined further abuse.

The family later returned to Ireland, where the abuse continued. The mother made a disclosure to a counsellor, who then notified Tusla.

A number of devices were seized following a search of the man's home in 2019. An analysis later recovered a deleted file named ‘Tusla doc', which was a draft letter covering some of the allegations.

In this letter, the man said he had studied paedophilia, and also referenced classical literature, including societies where relationships with children were acceptable. He also acknowledged the inappropriate touching of the victim.

The court heard the man also outlined his own background in the letter, including a number of adverse sexual experiences when he was younger.

The investigating garda agreed with Colman Cody SC, defending, that the man stated in the letter that his behaviour was illegal, immoral and deviant.

The man has a number of convictions, which post-date these incidents, and relate to breaches of court orders.

The Central Criminal Court heard he was on bail for this sexual offending when he posted online, in 2023, describing a sexual act between him and the victim, which implied it was consensual and initiated by the victim. Copies of the messages were handed to the court, but not read aloud.

In an impact statement, the now 18-year-old said speaking about the abuse could be “painful” as they feel their body “tighten up” and freeze.

The statement outlined feelings of anxiety, and a lack of self-worth and self-esteem.

The victim said they push away negative feelings and memories, trying to convince themselves the abuse didn't happen.

However, they said they have come to terms with their story as they've grown up and know now that it was “never my fault”.

They said it “took a long time to understand how wrong it was” and they “knew what he done was terrible”.

Referring to the criminal process, the victim said they felt unsupported and asked to make adult decisions while being treated as a child: “I never felt taken seriously in anything I said, yet it felt like any decision I had to make was the most important in the world.” 

The court previously heard the family moved to Portugal in 2017, where the abuse escalated.

In December 2017, the girl’s mother walked in on the man, while he was naked and abusing the victim. The family returned to Ireland in 2018, where the abuse continued.

The court previously heard the girl’s mother confronted the man, who replied: “It’s not what it looks like”. When she confronted him a second time, he said it was consensual and he never did anything that the victim didn’t want to do. She later spoke to the victim, who said it felt consensual and normal, but she was a child.

Following the victim's mother making a disclosure to a counsellor in 2019, and the subsequent referral to Tusla, the victim met specialist garda interviewers in 2019 and 2020, but didn’t feel comfortable making a statement on camera. She made a written statement in 2021, when she was 14, which outlined the extent of the abuse.

The man was interviewed by gardaí in 2021, but nothing of evidential value was obtained. He made a general denial when asked about the rape.

In a victim impact statement, the now 18-year-old outlined that “nothing that happened changed how we work as family, but brought new adult topics into conversation” and everything relating to their father was “uncomfortable”.

The victim said they have “feelings of resentment” when a sibling would talk about missing their father or speak well of him. They are now processing those feelings as they are older. They said they wondered why they were upset after visiting their father, but think fondly of some of these visits. They said their siblings “were there 'cos they wanted to see Dad. I was there because I felt I owed it to someone to be there”.

They said it was “not a shock when life flipped. I was now a case, a crime scene" and it took a “long time to realise what he did was wrong and not my fault”.

The victim said they felt their mother deserved more support from the authorities, particularly after their father left the home and the impact this had on the family’s finances. “Mam was abandoned by everyone.” A probation report, a psychological report and a letter from the man were handed to the court. Mr Cody suggested the court may have concerns about the man’s insight into his offending, given his online posts and different conclusions of the reports.

He said the report raised concerns that his client had little insight into his offending, minimised his actions and didn’t fully accept his wrongdoing. He outlined that his client told a probation officer that he had an “abnormal set of views” of the parent-child relationship due to his own experiences, but did not speak openly about this.

Mr Cody said his client was more open with a psychologist, outlining that his mother left the family home when he was very young and alleging that she initiated a sexual relationship with him after contact was re-established when he was a young adult. The man also told the psychologist that he grew up in a dysfunctional and sexualised environment, in which he was exposed to pornography by his father.

Mr Cody suggested these experiences had a “distorting effect” on his client, who acknowledged his wrongdoing, but expressed in these reports the “troubling view” that the victim was willing to engage in the abuse.

Defence counsel said his client expressed sorrow for his actions and their impact, in his letter to the court. He suggested this letter was the “first coherent acknowledgement of what he has done” and his client was beginning to recognise the impact of his offending.

He asked the court for as much leniency as possible for his client and to construct a sentence that encouraged his rehabilitation and the development of a healthier attitude to sex and parent-child relationships.

Imposing sentence on Tuesday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the impact statement was a “testament” of the difficult journey the victim has had to make and will continue with into the future.

The judge said the statement also indicated the “physical and mental burden and toll” of telling this “appalling story”.

He said the victim's candour was in “stark contrast” to the accused, who pleaded guilty two years after the case first entered the Central Criminal Court's list.

The judge said the aggravating features included the young age of the victim and that the abuse escalated to the point that the victim “thought it normal”. He said dealing with that abuse has been a “dominating feature” of the victim's childhood and adolescence.

He also noted that the victim was “defenceless and vulnerable” and that the abuse took place in her home where she should have felt safe and secure.

The judge said the parent-child relationship was also an aggravating factor, noting that the victim was abused by a person from “whom she was entitled to expect the greatest care, nurturing and respect”.

He said the victim faced the “most vile, confusing, terrifying behaviour by a father who did whatever he wanted to her when he wanted” and the man had violated the trust of his child, wife and of society.

The judge noted that the contents of reports and a letter from the man which was a “late but welcome acknowledgement of wrongdoing”. However, Mr Justice McDermott said the messages posted online by the man which suggested the victim was responsible “somewhat undermines his acceptance of responsibility”.

The judge said the man's “warped and dangerous attitude to offending detracts to a degree from the sincerity of his current position”.

Mr Justice McDermott set a headline sentence of 16 years, which he reduced to 13 years having considered the mitigation and the man's personal circumstances.

The judge suspended the final 12 months on strict conditions including that the man have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with any child under 18. He further imposed a seven-year post-release supervision order and backdated the sentence to July.

Referring to the victim impact statement, Mr Justice McDermott said the statement was “deeply open and honest” about how a child faced with the “awful realisation” that their father had been committing crimes against them suffers “and what it is like to be plunged into the very adult process of criminal investigation and trial”.

Mr Justice McDermott said the impact statement outlined the difficulties faced by any young person “who has to face into the rigours of the criminal justice system”.

“That insight is valuable and should be valuable to anyone engaged in cases of this kind whether in practice, investigation or presiding over criminal trials," he said. The judge said the statement underlined the importance of criminal processes involving children being “speedy” and that the “overhanging shadow of court proceedings should be removed as quickly as possible from any child drawn into them”.

He noted a probation report concluded that the man acknowledged his wrongdoing, but demonstrated little insight into the impact on the victim.

The judge said a psychological report stated the man expressed remorse, guilt and shame, and referred to his negative early experiences.

Mr Justice McDermott said the man's letter to the court outlined some insight into his offending, but was “somewhat self consumed” and demonstrated the necessity for the man to engage in victim-focused work.