A MAN who sexually abused his six-year-old stepdaughter while her mother was at work was jailed yesterday for 11 months.
Kevin Guihen (39), Bridge House, Bridge Street, Carrick-on- Shannon, Co Leitrim, pleaded guilty before Galway District Court in February to three sample counts of sexually assaulting the girl on various dates between April 1st, 1997 and March 31st, 1998, at a Galway location. The matter was adjourned to yesterday for sentence.
The victim, who is now 18, told the initial court hearing in February that she wanted her former stepfather identified even though that meant her own privacy might be compromised.
She explained to Judge Mary Fahy she first made a complaint to gardaí in 2005 but did not feel strong enough to proceed any further at the time. When she turned 18 last year, she said she decided to pursue the complaint again.
The assaults, she told gardaí, had occurred while her mother was working nights and the accused was left in charge.
The victim said she had felt suicidal and depressed as a result of the assaults but was receiving counselling from the Rape Crisis Centre since the DPP directed the charges be preferred against the accused. The victim’s mother and Guihen had since separated.
Defence solicitor Valerie Corcoran said her client was issuing an unqualified apology to the girl. He had been abusing alcohol at the time of the offences but he had sought help for his alcohol and psychiatric problems long before the girl made the complaint and was now rehabilitating himself.
Judge Fahy said this had been “an appalling breach of trust in relation to a very young child” where the accused who was acting as the girl’s father had abused her when she was just six to seven years of age.
The judge said the girl had found it very difficult to cope with this abuse and would continue to do so but she noted that if the accused had not pleaded guilty it might have been very difficult to prove the case, given the girl’s very young age at the time.
She sentenced Guihen to seven months in prison on the first charge and imposed a consecutive four-month prison sentence on him for the second charge. She imposed a further eight-month sentence on the third charge which she suspended for 12 months on condition he be of good behaviour and not make any contact with the victim during that time.
Placing Guihen on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, Judge Fahy said the sentences would have been much longer but for the fact that the offences were committed while the accused was under the influence of alcohol and reports handed into court stated he was now successfully getting treatment for that.
Speaking to the victim, Judge Fahy said, “All I can say is I hope you continue with your counselling and that you will find some closure now that the court proceedings are over. I also thank you for coming in and explaining the incident to us as there was no victim impact report available.
“I feel it’s a fair sentence. I’m trying to keep the balance right between a man who is seriously remorseful and what he did at the time.” The judge noted from reports handed into court that Guihen’s risk of reoffending if he continued with his alcohol treatment programme was deemed “insignificant” but that if he were to resume drinking that risk would increase. Leave to appeal the 11-month sentence was granted.