A man who raped and sexually assaulted a child more than 20 years ago in Co Mayo has been given a 10-year prison sentence by Mr Justice Peter Charleton at the Central Criminal Court .
The 59-year-old man from Co Laois, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and who is still protesting his innocence, was found guilty by a jury on four counts of rape and four counts of indecently assaulting the girl from April 1979 to June 1986.
Mr Justice Charleton, who directed that the man be registered as a sex offender, said the victim's "eloquent impact statement" noted his offending had taken her young life from her.
"These offences are particularly bad but I will suspend the final three years on condition that he attend three years post-release supervision," Mr Justice Charleton said.
Mr Justice Charleton added that if he did not comply, he would serve the three years in addition to any sentence imposed for non-compliance. He refused leave to appeal.
The jury's verdicts were returned on day five of the hearing on July 6th almost five hours of deliberation. The six men and six women spent one night in a hotel.
The man had originally faced a total of 40 charges but Mr Justice Charleton withdrew five of them following legal discussion at the end of the evidence and the jury acquitted him on the remaining 14 charges of rape and 13 of sexual assault.
Sgt Gabriel McLaughlin told Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that the victim gave evidence of consistent sexual abuse including vaginal and oral rapes from the time she was about four years old until she was 12. The offences happened in various places, both indoors and outdoors. He would often tell her afterwards that she was a good little girl.
The woman recalled that on one occasion when her mother was in hospital, he made her wear her mother's nightdress and sleep with him in his bed.
"I had to be the mother," she said. "I just remember looking at the curtains and crying quietly while he penetrated me."
Sgt McLaughlin told Ms Kennedy that the man who gave evidence at his trial denying her claims was jailed for 12 months in 1979 for burglary and larceny. He said the man totally rejected the victim's allegations when interviewed by gardaí after his arrest in 2000.
"She's sick in the head, she's definitely sick," he repeatedly said in reply to specific allegations. He replied: "I wasn't there, end of story," to one specific allegation and told gardaí he would prove her allegations were false through letters he had.
Sgt McLaughlin and Garda Stephen Gaughan also said at the trial that he denied he threatened the victim she would be put into care if she complained about the assaults.
He told gardaí the questions being put to him were becoming "more stupid" and claimed she had a grudge against him because of his attitude to a boyfriend she had at one stage. When asked why she would make these allegations against him, he replied several times: "I haven't got a clue."
Conor Devally SC, defending, said his client still protested his innocence and would be seeking to appeal his conviction in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Mr Devally said his client suffered from cholesterol and heart problems. He had lived a normal life to outward appearances and had the support of a new partner he had found.