An armed robber and drugs dealer who raped his partner's teenage daughter has been jailed for life by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
Christopher Griffin (37) of Ridgewood Green, Swords, was found guilty by a jury on January 18th last on 11 counts of rape and sexual assault.
Griffin was convicted on one count of oral rape in 1998, one of rape in 2001 and nine charges of indecently assaulting the victim on dates from 1993 to 1998.
The victim, now 21, consented to having Griffin named in media reports of the trial. The abuse began when the victim was eight.
Griffin, a father of two daughters, had pleaded not guilty to the charges at the start of his trial in December.
Mr Justice Carney directed that Griffin be registered as a sex offender and also that a victim impact report be prepared for the sentence hearing.
The trial and the sentence hearing were both held in Cloverhill Courthouse under strict security conditions due to tensions between feuding factions in the north inner city area.
A detective told the court of serious incidents - including two fatal shootings - in which firearms and grenades had been used by opposing factions to intimidate each other as a result of the trial.
The victim told the court she was eight years old when Griffin and her mother began a relationship in 1993.
He moved in with her family soon after their relationship began, and they changed houses a number of times. She said he abused her every time her mother went out.
She said she had never consented to the behaviour, adding that Griffin "sometimes bought me everything, obviously to keep my mouth shut", and that he also offered her up to €500 for sexual favours.
The woman claimed that Griffin and her mother bought her a car when she was 16. "I was given the car to keep my mouth shut, but he had a row with my mother and took it back," she told the court.