Mayo man is jailed for sexually abusing his grandchildren
The defendant appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court.
A man with a “paedophilic fetish" has been jailed for six years for the abuse of his granddaughters.
The 69-year-old Mayo man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the girls. Evidence in the case was heard last month.
The grandfather was charged with 17 counts of sexual assault and pleaded guilty to eight sample charges.
Det Gda Paula Griffin told the court that the victims were aged 10 and five when they made their disclosures to their mother in December 2021. The abuse began when they were aged six and three.
The accused was the girl’s paternal grandfather and babysat them regularly. The eldest girl said the abuse would take place on every occasion he babysat her.
The accused would touch her vagina and warn her this was a “secret”. The girl told her mother that she believed her younger sister was also being abused. On one occasion, the older girl walked into a room and her younger sister was rubbing her vagina in front of her grandfather. He told her sister “not to tell Mummy and Daddy".
When the older girl questioned him about this, he replied: "You know that thing, you like it too." The eldest girl was panicked about her five-year-old sister and told her mother what was happening.
When asked by her mother if anyone touched her private area, the younger girl said only her grandfather did this and it was a secret. She showed her mother how her grandfather touched her. She put her hands on her vagina area inside her pyjamas and simulated her fingers moving around her vaginal area. She told her mother "this is what grandad does".
The 10-year-old girl told her mother that her grandfather touched her vagina on numerous occasions and also tickled her vagina until she urinated on him. Both girls described their grandfather touching them in the same manner. The accused would have both girls sleep naked in bed with him.
The 10-year-old girl was abused for almost four years between November 2017 and April 2021. Her younger sister was abused between October 2019 and December 2021.
The accused has no previous convictions.
The court heard that a psychologist believes the man has no insight or appreciation for the gravity of the crimes. The grandfather claims he derived no sexual gratification during the abuse.
The case came before the court last Thursday for finalisation.
Judge Eoin Garavan said he did not believe the man’s claims that there was no sexual element to his behaviour.
“This was some sort of paedophilic fetish,” said the judge. “Like a lot of older paedophiles, he cannot admit it. He sees things through a defensive lens."
Judge Garavan said the girls were “used, interfered with and abused” for their grandfather’s pleasure. He jailed the man for six years and ordered him to attend a sex offender's course while in prison.
