A father who imposed a "sexual tariff" on his three teenage daughters by forcing them to have sex with him before they could leave the house to socialise has had his 15-year-sentence for rape and indecent assault reduced to 11 years.
The 43-year-old man had been forgiven by two of his daughters and the third had visited him in prison, the Court of Criminal Appeal was told yesterday. His wife was seated beside him in the courtroom.
The man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 10 representative counts of rape and indecent assault and was sentenced to 15 years in January 1997. There were originally 70 charges against him.
The offences against his daughters, now aged 22, 21 and 19, were committed between 1989 and February 1996.
Giving the judgment of the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, Mr Justice O'Flaherty, sitting with Mr Justice O'Higgins and Mr Justice Cyril Kelly, said the crimes against the man's daughters had attendant aggravated features in that the man operated a sexual tariff by requiring his daughters to have sex with him before they could leave the house.
There was no violence, terror or brutality similar to that to be found in many of these cases, the judge added, but the man's daughters had been deprived of a normal childhood.
Their father was a serial abuser.
Two of his daughters had forgiven him as had his wife, and the third daughter had visited him in prison.
Mr Justice O'Flaherty noted that the trial judge had described the case as one of the worst he had ever encountered.
The trial judge had contemplated imposing a life sentence but had imposed 15 years, with one year suspended, to take account of 15 months already served.
In the father's favour, the judge took into account the man's immediate surrender to the Garda when his wife confronted him, his guilty plea, evidence of one of his daughters and the fact he had no previous convictions and was remorseful and willing to attend a treatment programme.
Against him, he took into account the fact he had imposed a sexual tariff on his daughters when his wife left the house to go to work.
Mr Justice O'Flaherty said the Court of Criminal Appeal had to have regard to past cases and to give a warning for the future. The court would reduce the sentence from 15 to 11 years and the sentence was to date from January 1997.