A 75-YEAR-OLD man who raped his then nine-year-old granddaughter in a Wexford town in 1994 has been jailed for seven years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The west Dublin pensioner admitted he raped the girl in July 1994 and pleaded guilty to six further charges of sexually assaulting her from 1992 to 1998.
He also admitted four counts of indecently assaulting her older sister from 1983 to 1990.
Aileen Donnelly SC, prosecuting, said the sample guilty pleas from an indictment with 64 counts were accepted by the State on the basis of all evidence being heard.
The first 25 charges on the indictment related to the victim he raped, and the remaining 39 to her older sister.
Ms Donnelly said the Director of Public Prosecutions placed the rape charge “at the upper end of the scale for sentence, in a range of 10-12 years before mitigation was taken into consideration” because of the victim’s age, his continued sexual assault of her and that he was in a position of trust.
Luan Ó Braonáin SC, defending, said he was not offering any excuse for his client’s behaviour, but that when the man had been asked what he would want to say to the court if he was unrepresented in the case, he said: “I’m sorry.” Mr Justice Carney said: “You haven’t eyes in the back of your head, Mr Ó Braonáin, but that is being treated with contempt at the back of the court.”
He directed that the man’s name be entered on the register of sexual offenders and said the case merited a sentence of 12 years.
He said he had to take into account the man’s guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions, his age, state of health and the fact that he was considered as a low risk of reoffending. He sentenced him to seven years for the rape charge and a concurrent four years on each of the sex and indecent assault charges.