Man (29) jailed for sexual abuse of his younger half-siblings
Niamh O’Donoghue & Claire Henry
A man has been jailed at the Central Criminal Court for sexually abusing his three younger half-siblings.
The man, who is now aged 29, cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of defilement and a number of sexual assaults on dates between 2012 and 2018.
The court heard that the first complainant was aged between eight and 14 years when the offending occurred, and the defendant was aged between 15 and 21 years.
The second complainant was aged between five and 10 years old, and the second complainant was aged between nine and 14 years.
The third complainant was aged between nine and 14 years old, and the defendant was between seventeen and twenty-two years old at the time.
Passing sentence on Friday, Ms Justic Karen O’Connor said, “This was ongoing offending of three victims, all of whom were children at the time.”
Ms Justice O’Connor said the aggravating factors in this case were that there were three victims and they were so young that they did not know what was happening.
She said this defendant did not stop the offending when asked to by the victims, and at the times he used force. She noted that the most significant aggravating factor was the impact this offending has had on the three victims.
The judge said the most significant mitigating factor was the early guilty pleas; she said this was a public admission of wrongdoing.
She also outlined that some of the offences were carried out when the defendant was also a minor. He has no relevant previous convictions and has been in custody since 2024 on this matter.
Ms Justice O’Connor sentenced the defendant to six years on each of the sample sexual assault counts. She handed down an eight-year sentence for the count of defilement and suspended the final year for 18 months.
All sentences are to run concurrently.
She also placed the defendant under the supervision of the Probation Services for 18 months post-release and instructed that he carry out all directions deemed necessary by them.
She said he is not to have any unsupervised access to children. She backdated this sentence to when he went into custody.
At a previous hearing, Giollaiosa O’ Lideadha SC, defending, said his client expressed remorse, but because of his very serious intellectual deficits, his difficulty in thinking and understanding, he actually does not understand the harm that he has done.
Probation and psychological reports before the court were very detailed and also addressed the difficulty in coming to terms with what he had done.
The Probation Service is willing to work with him, the court heard.
He has declared himself willing to engage with programmes of the Probation Service after he is released, but will “need support just to live day by day”.
The probation report also states he is to have no unsupervised access to children.
He takes full responsibility for sexually assaulting the victims. His instructions are that there was no consent and that this was an assault, counsel said. It will be an ongoing process that he fully understands the effects of his crimes, the court was told.
“He knows he has to go through that pain that he has caused other people”, said Mr O’ Lideadha.
“He was a child himself at the start of this heinous activity,” he added.
His cognitive limitations are a relevant factor to take into account when assessing his culpability, counsel said.
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.
