A Mayo man who sexually assaulted his daughter and his son has had his sentence adjourned for two years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to two charges of orally raping the girl and four charges of indecently and sexually assaulting her from January 1992 to February 2000 in a Mayo town. The victim was aged eight to 16 years. He also pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his son from 1992 to 1994 when the boy was aged seven to nine years. He cannot be named for legal reasons.
Mr Justice Carney directed that he be registered as a sex offender and said it would be appropriate to adopt a proposal by the Director of Public Prosecutions to adjourn the sentence for two years to allow the man continue medical treatment for his serious condition.
Mr Justice Carney said the facts of the case were among "some of the most depraved" he had come across and in the normal course of events, he would have to consider a life sentence.
Prosecuting counsel Alexander Owen told the judge that the DPP favoured adjournment of sentence because of medical treatment needed by the man.
Garda Sgt Jim Caden told Mr Owen that both victims had declined to make victim impact statements and wished to leave the matter to the courts. They were happy the defendant had pleaded guilty.
Sgt Caden said their formal complaints were made to gardaí after the man ceased to live with his wife. He agreed with defence counsel Brendan Grehan that the man made admissions when interviewed by gardaí and replied "guilty" to specific matters.
He also agreed that the victims did not seek vengeance.
Mr Grehan said the man had asked him to offer through the gardaí his apologies to the victims.