A Dublin man who raped and sexually abused his step-daughter until she was 17 years old has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
John Doran (56), of Ballyfermot Drive, Ballyfermot pleaded guilty to sample charges of indecent assault, sexual assault and rape from 56 counts on the indictment against him.
The victim, who was aged seven when the abuse began and was raped from 14 years of age to 17, requested that Doran be named in media reports, Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, said.
Mr Clarke (with Orla Crowe BL), said that 28 of the 55 counts were for indecent assault on dates from 1984 to 1990; 14 for sexual assault on dates from 1991 to 1994, and 13 for rape on dates from 1991 to 1994.
Mr Justice Carney said as the State accepted pleas to representative charges, the court was dealing with "hundreds of acts of sexual assault", and from the point of view of the victim "clearly nothing short of life imprisonment would be apportionate for what happened to her."
Mr Justice Carney said the Court of Criminal Appeal had ruled that sentences were not a contest between the victim and the accused and that while the CCA had upheld non-mandatory life sentences in certain cases, he didn't think it would do so in this case.
Mr Justice Carney said it had been very strongly urged by defence counsel, Erwan Mill Arden SC, that Doran was still of an age where he could be rehabilitated and that was a matter which the CCA would expect him to take into account.
He accepted also that Doran had pleaded guilty and had earlier made admissions of the essential facts though he didn't think that Sgt Fionnuala Olohan accepted he was remorseful.
"His offending has had a very devastating effect on the victim and I must take into account what has happened to her over such a long period of time. I am required to balance all these factors as best I can,", said Mr Justice Carney, who imposed concurrent nine-year terms on the rape charges and four-year terms on the other counts. Sgt Olohan said the now 28-year-old victim complained to gardaí in January 2000.
She said Doran threatened to kill her and threatened to tell her boyfriend what was going on. He set up a video camera and told her he was filming all their sexual activity. Sgt Olohan said Doran made a statement after his arrest in which he admitted all the activity that had happened. He claimed he only pretended to film the sexual activity.