A 63-year-old Co Offaly man has been found guilty of raping and sexually abusing his second eldest daughter and also of sexually abusing two of her sisters.
He was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court on seven charges of raping the now 32-year-old woman and of 12 further charges of indecently assaulting her.
The jury also returned 16 guilty verdicts of indecent assault in relation to his now 36-year-old eldest daughter and one guilty verdict in relation to a third daughter.
He was found not guilty by the jury on five counts of indecent assault of his eldest daughter, two in relation to a third daughter and one in relation to a fourth daughter.
He had pleaded guilty at the start of his trial to seven counts of indecent assault on two of his daughters during the same period. One of these guilty pleas was in relation to his eldest daughter and the remaining six to his second eldest daughter. The offences happened on dates from 1973 to 1987
Ms Justice Dunne remanded him in custody for sentence on April 18th, and directed the preparation of impact statements on the victims, as well as probation and psychiatric reports on their father. She refused leave to appeal the convictions.
The jury returned its unanimous verdicts following almost seven hours' deliberations spread over two days and following one night in a hotel. It was day five of the trial.
Ms Justice Dunne thanked the jury of three women and nine men for what she described as its great care and attention to the case which she said was indicated by questions it asked during deliberations. She excused the members from further jury service for seven years.
The jury was told by prosecuting counsel, Mr Paul Coffey SC (with Ms Dara M Foynes) at the start of the trial, that investigation of the case began when the man came to a Garda station on March 12th, 2001 and said he was guilty of indecently assaulting one of his daughters, but denied raping her. "Lock me up," he told the gardaí, Mr Coffey said.
He described his sexual abuse of them to gardaí as "fooling around" and denied having sexual intercourse with them.
All four daughters told the jury how he sexually abused them in their childhood.