A Dublin man has been jailed for eight years for sexually abusing a child over a seven- year period. William Toland (59) was convicted of abusing the girl from the age of seven.
Because of the amount of offences, Judge Patricia Ryan imposed two consecutive terms of four years, meaning Toland will serve a total sentence of eight years.
Toland, Balcurris Road, Ballymun, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last June to 58 counts of sexual abuse between November 1993 and November 2000. The jury convicted him on 56 counts and failed to agree verdicts on two counts. The court ordered the identity of his now 24-year-old victim be protected, but allowed the naming of Toland in the media.
Garda Sheila O’Brien told Cormac Quinn, prosecuting, that he had abused the girl in her home, his home and other locations.
The trial heard Toland would go to the girl’s room when he was drunk.
The woman had said she did not report the assaults at the time as Toland had told her no one would believe her.