Laois father jailed for sexual abuse of his daughter 

A man who sexually abused his daughter during her childhood, telling her that they had “a special love” her mother would be jealous of, has been jailed for seven years.

Gordon McKenna (79) formerly of Marian Grove, Old Moore Street, Mountmellick, Laois, now living in Germany, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting his daughter at various locations including the family home in Tallaght, Dublin, on mountain biking trips and at the cinema, on dates between 1977 and 1983. He has no previous convictions.

McKenna had previously denied the charges but pleaded guilty before his trial commenced at the Central Criminal Court.

Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, prosecuting told Ms Justice Melanie Greally that Jane Murray (55) wished to waive her right to anonymity to allow her father to be named in reporting the case. She joined the hearing remotely via an audio link.

The court heard that Ms Murray’s mother suspected McKenna was having an affair when Ms Murray was 13 years' old. It was at this point that the teenager told her mother that she was “the other woman”. McKenna left the family home and the abuse came to an end.

Ms Murray was seen by her family doctor and attended counselling. McKenna, Ms Murray and her mother later participated in joint family counselling but McKenna actively influenced his daughter’s communications. Her mother later featured in a RTÉ broadcast regarding child sexual abuse.

McKenna continued to have contact with Ms Murray and he did not allow her to call him “Dad”. He would tell people that they happened across while out in public that she was his girlfriend.

The abuse came to the attention of both gardaí and TUSLA after Ms Murray applied for records of those counselling sessions as an adult in 2018. She went on to make statements of complaint.

At this point McKenna had re-married and moved to Germany. Through mutual assistance, gardaí contacted him but he denied any wrongdoing.

Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, said McKenna had written a letter to the court outlining his sorrow and regret for his actions. He asked the court to take into account his guilty plea, his advanced age and his work history.

He said the accused had re-married. His wife is receiving palliative care and the accused is a carer for her. He outlined that McKenna had a number of medical issues himself.

Passing sentence today/yesterday (TUES), Ms Justice Melanie Greally acknowledged that the harm caused to Ms Murray by her father was “unquantifiable and impossible to articulate”.

She said her victim impact statement, read into the record by Mr O Dúnlaing, was “poignant and restrained” and that Ms Murray is only beginning to process her childhood experience. She acknowledged that the abuse impacted her sense of self and she has a lack of value and self-worth and it has affected her capacity to form relationships.

“She eloquently speaks of the love she should have received,” Ms Justice Greally said before she said Ms Murray spoke of the lie her father told her about their “so called relationship”.

She noted that Ms Murray spoke of her father’s deviousness and how he abused her without any care for her wellbeing and her future.

“Her victim impact statement is a simple expression of her immense sadness and sense of loss for what might have been,” Ms Justice Greally said.

Ms Justice Greally said McKenna was responsible for Ms Murray’s care as a child while her mother was working.

She said the abuse was “a highly specific grooming and manipulation” noting that McKenna thought his daughter to control and switch off her emotions and that he played tricks to scare her and was amused by her fear.

Ms Justice Greally said that McKenna told his daughter that they had “a special deep relationship that no one could understand and that her mother would be jealous if she knew”.

She noted that Ms Murray said she was abused most days after school and described being made read loves letters to her father, which he had received from his mistress, while she was forced to masturbate him.

Ms Justice Greally said the abuse represented “an extreme abuse of trust by a parent who was also her primary carer”.

She took into account Ms Murray’s extreme youth at the time and her dependency on her father, that the abuse occurred in the family home, it’s frequency and duration and the “immeasurable psychological harm caused to her” and its impact on her personal development, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Ms Justice Greally noted that a maximum sentence of two years applies to a number of the earlier incidences of abuse due to the legislation which existed at the time, which she said “in no way reflects the culpability of the offender or the harm caused”.

She said in mitigation she was taking into account the plea of guilty but noted that it was a late plea and that Ms Murray still had to live with the prospect of a trial and giving evidence.

She further acknowledged McKenna’s lack of previous convictions, his pro-social life since, his remorse for his actions, his medical conditions and his current’s wife poor medical condition and the fact that he acts as her carer in Germany.

Ms Justice Greally imposed concurrent sentences of 16 months for the earlier offences and a consecutive term of five years and eight months for the later offences. These later offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years following a change in legislation.

The judge said she didn’t consider a post release supervision order was necessary in the case.

ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE OF THE OFFENDING Detective Garda Seán Carrick told Mr Ó Dúnlaing that Ms Murray made an initial statement in 2018 and a follow-up statement in 2021.

The court heard the woman had lived alone as a child with her parents. Her mother worked outside the home while her father stayed at home.

McKenna was described as a domineering, anti-establishment man. She described how he would play tricks to terrify her.

He disliked displays of playfulness or outward displays of her being a child. She said there was a highly sexualised relationship between them.

Ms Murray described her father touching her and she having to masturbate him while watching TV.

She said he used to take her on biking trips up the mountains instead of going to school but she recalled these trips would end with him having to be masturbated by her. He would sometimes make her give him oral sex. The abuse also occurred on a holiday.

She said her father told her they had a special love and if she told her mother she would be jealous.

Ms Murray told her mother when she was 13 years old and her mother put the man out of the house. She attended counselling with her family afterwards.

In her victim impact statement, she said a father was someone who was supposed to make you feel safe and treasured, someone to walk you up the aisle. She said she should have been the apple of his eye, not used for his sexual satisfactions.

Ms Murray said it was impossible to describe the impact it has had on her. She said she does not wish her father harm and feels desperately sad. She said there was “no peace in this desperate story”.

She said she wishes her father peace and has no hatred for him. “I am heartbroken that this is our story,” she said.