A Co Laois man who sexually assaulted a young girl over a number of years has been jailed for seven years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
John Phelan (43), Kilbrecken, Mountrath, pleaded guilty to seven sample charges of indecent and sexual assault on the victim on dates from April 1989 to March 1992 in Co Laois.
Shane Murphy SC, prosecuting, told Mr Justice Carney the victim was satisfied her identity would not be revealed by Phelan being named in media reports.
Sgt Brendan Fitzgerald told Mr Murphy that Phelan had no previous convictions and came from a good family.
The victim told the court Phelan had "tainted my childhood and life" and that she had lived with the torment of it for many years before reporting it.
In her victim impact statement, she said that because "it is such a personal crime between two people" she had had great difficulty speaking about the abuse with her family and friends.
Her family had been devastated by her revelations and she still had "feelings of uncleanness". She also found it difficult to trust men or be comfortable in male company.
She said she was aged nine to 11 years old when abused by Phelan and thought at first it was natural. She was "young and naive", didn't understand exactly what was happening and didn't question his behaviour.
She was "no match for him and couldn't push him away" and she recalled running to the bathroom "to scrub my hands" after incidents of abuse.
"It was only some years later that I realised he had taken advantage of me," she said. She took the case eventually to add her voice to all who wanted to put a stop to this type of offending so that no young child would have to endure it in the future.
"There are no winners in this case," she said. "His guilty plea last October was 16 years too late and he has never shown me any sign of remorse."
Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said were it not "for these deplorable matters", Phelan would be considered an upright person.
He had ceased offending some 16 years ago and was genuinely remorseful as indicated in his own written apology and in the testimonial from his parish priest.
Mr Justice Carney noted that indecent assault used to carry a 10-year sentence while currently sexual assault had a five-year maximum term.
He said he would normally have regarded five years as the sentence for indecent assault but wouldn't do so in this case due to the oral sex offences which were now covered under Section Four of the 1981 Rape Act as "aggravated sexual assault" with a possible life sentence.
He imposed a seven-year term on the indecent assault count and five years on the remaining sexual assault counts with all the sentences to run concurrent.
He directed that Phelan be registered as a sex offender and that he should undergo five years' post-release supervision.