A man who raped a child three times after bringing her to an underpass near her home has been jailed for nine years.
The Dublin man (70) had pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and one of indecent assault at an underpass on a road in Dublin on dates between August 8th, 1978 and May 24th, 1980. He cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, who was aged around six or seven at the time of the attacks.
Following a trial at Central Criminal Court last May a jury convicted the man of all allegations of rape. He was previously convicted by a jury of the charge of indecent assault following a separate trial in May of 2018 and has been in custody since then.
Sentencing him on Monday, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart said the man was a neighbour of the child and knew her parents. She said he abused the position of trust placed in him and took advantage of a very young child.
He continues to deny the offending and does not accept the jury verdict. The judge set a headline sentence of 12 years for each rape offence.
Ms Justice Stewart noted his lack of any other convictions and said he would be homeless when released from custody. She said she wanted to encourage rehabilitation and suspended the last three years of the prison term.
All sentences are to run concurrently and are backdated to May 2018.
In a victim impact statement, which she read out in court, the victim said she blamed herself for what happened and wondered if she had done something that had made him choose her.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve been nervous and frightened thinking he was going to come after me,” she told the court.
“I want the memories of pain to go away but I know that won’t happen.” She said she lived with the guilt of knowing what the man was and that he lived near where children play.
Detective Garda Olive Jolley told Pauline Walley SC, prosecuting, that when the victim was approximately six years old, she remembered being lifted by the man and carried to the underpass.
‘Deceiving’ smile
On the first occasion the man sexually assaulted her before getting on top her and raping her. The victim said the pain felt “like her insides were on fire”.
After raping her the man wiped her with a cloth and told her she was “a good girl”.
On the second occasion the man again picked up and carried the child to the underpass. The child began crying because she remembered the first attack and she was upset as she knew what he was going to do.
Before raping her the man smelled her clothes and hair. He raped the child, tried to kiss her mouth and made her touch him.
The woman told gardaí that on the third occasion, he wore a “deceiving” smile as he carried her to the underpass where he raped her again. The victim remembered another occasion where he touched her, but did not rape her and she managed to run away.
The man has no previous convictions. He continues to deny all allegations, saying to gardaí in interview that they were “lies” and “evil”.
Paddy McGrath SC, defending, said that the fact that his client was an elderly man did not absolve him of the punishment he was to receive from the court, but that nevertheless his age was a factor the judge should consider.