Father who blamed 'the Devil' for sexual abuse of daughter accepts his acts were 'inappropriate'

Tom Tuite

A “deeply committed family man” who blamed the Devil for the repeated sexual abuse of his young daughter over nine years now accepts it was inappropriate and should never have happened.

The accused, who is in his 50s, pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court last year to sexually assaulting her in the midlands intermittently from October 2007 to March 2008, September 2010 to March 2011 and March to September 2016.

It began when she was eight and continued until she was 17, when she was kicked out of her family.

He is not being named to protect the victim's right to anonymity.

On Tuesday, the case resumed with a defence mitigation plea, stating that the man has been attending counselling to gain greater insight into the damage he caused. He was also described as a deeply committed family man with no prior convictions.

Judge Keenan Johnson heard that the accused was apologetic, had accepted that his acts were inappropriate and ought never to have happened, and had fully cooperated with the Garda investigation. The sentence hearing continues later this week.

The complainant, now in her 20s, delivered a moving victim impact statement earlier.

Revealing how she was left wracked with feelings of guilt and shame from a young age, she had firmly told her father "that was over now" and "that little girl finally knows that it was not her fault".

Divisional Protective Service Unit Detective Garda Olivia Kelly gave evidence that it occurred in their family home and began while the child's mother was away.

The court heard he touched and put his finger in her vagina as he "whispered in her ear", while he had an erection, but he never got her to touch him, and he did not penetrate her with his penis.

After the first incident, and before her mother returned, he brought her for a walk and told her, "We need to stop what we were doing; they were wrong, it was the work of the Devil, and the Devil was trying to get into the family, and it needs to stop".

It continued, and in the rest of the incidents, he got the girl to lie on top of him and gave her a head-to-toe "body rub" with lotion.

He told her not to talk about it, and she kept quiet for years until she confided in her boyfriend after the abuse had stopped.

When the child's mother returned, there were more incidents where he was groping her.

Her mother also got the accused to give the girl the "sex talk", and he took out his genitals to show her, but she ran out of the room.

The court heard her mother was devastated when she found out, crying, angry, and she wanted to confront her husband.

A sibling recorded their conversation when they spoke to him about the girl's allegations; he initially denied it had happened, but later admitted it was true.

He left, but the mother took him back and said he would have to get help for the family, and she blamed the Devil.

Still a teenager, the victim was kicked out of the family home, and one of her siblings told gardaí that the complainant was treated terribly.

When gardaí questioned him, he apologised and said, "But I never robbed her of her virginity or anything. I had a bad thing in my life; it was a bad time in my life. I asked God to take it away; it was only showering and rubbing cream on the body, just holding close."

In a later interview session, he made some admissions about when she was aged 9 – 11 and during a later period of abuse, it was happening once or twice a month, but he did not regard it as molesting, "just touching".

In her victim impact statement, the woman also spoke about feeling like the black sheep of the family and a troublemaker, but she was a little girl trying to make sense of it, while her mother believed she made it up. The last words from her mother on the matter were that she forgave the victim.

She felt she had lost her parents, whom she had loved, but had emphatically addressed in court her father, saying, "Love is not a free pass and protecting others is more important than staying silent."

Once she made a complaint to gardaí, Tusla became involved with the family.

Her father, a foreign national who was described as having a good work history and now living a lonely life, did not address the court.

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.