A Co Offaly farmer was given a 30-month sentence by Mr Justice Peter Charleton at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday for sexually assaulting his niece over a decade ago.
The 54-year-old man was convicted by a jury in December on nine charges of sexually assaulting the then teenager on dates from 1990 to 1995. The trial took four days. The woman is now 29.
The jury also returned not guilty verdicts on 18 further counts alleging that the farmer raped his niece on dates from 1993 to 1998, and on two further charges of sexually assaulting her on dates in 1994.
No verdict was returned on one charge alleging that the father of the family raped her on a date between May and September 1995 when she was 17.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, originally faced and denied a total of 44 charges - 27 of rape on dates from 1992 to 1998, and 17 of indecent and sexual assault on dates from 1990 to 1995
Mr Justice Charleton had earlier withdrawn 13 of the 44 charges from the jury following an application by defence counsel Patrick Gageby SC at the end of the prosecution case.
He directed that not guilty verdicts be recorded on them: three counts of rape in 1994, two in 1995 and two on dates in 1997-98; two of sexual assault in 1993 and four in 1995.
The jury announced its decisions following just over seven and a half hours' deliberation and having spent one night in a hotel. Two of the guilty verdicts were by 10-2 majority and the rest were unanimous.
Sgt Cora Griffin told prosecuting counsel Niall Durnin SC that the farmer had no previous convictions.
The now 29-year-old woman told Mr Justice Charleton the offending had transformed her childhood and caused psychological distress. She said her uncle's assaults on her had torn the family apart and she had been subjected to intimidation to try to get her to withdraw the charges, but she had great support within her own family.