A Waterford man who raped and sexually assaulted a young female relative has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court. She was aged from seven to 14 years when the offences happened.
Richard Power (40), Blake's Lane, pleaded guilty to rape between April 1994 and April 1995 at an address in Waterford city.
He also admitted seven sample charges of indecent and sexual assault on her from 1990 to 1996. There were 28 counts on the indictment.
The victim said after the case that she wanted Power named in media reports of the case.
Earlier, she told the court in her victim impact statement that every day was a struggle for her and had led her to try to commit suicide.
"I remember as a child praying to God to take me and I would be safe with my mother in heaven. I thought that if I was in heaven he couldn't get his hands on me," she said.
She said Power began the abuse as a game of "nurses and doctors". The abuse sometimes happened three or four times a week and "given the opportunity he would sexually abuse me twice in the same day".
Sometimes he would kiss her which she found disgusting and the abuse seemed to her "to last an eternity" while she closed her eyes hoping it would be over soon.
"I hope there will be a day that I don't think of the terrible things that happened to me as a child. I know I will never get my childhood back but I'm determined to make something of the rest of my life," she said.
Mr Justice Carney declared Power a sex offender and directed also that he undergo five years of post-release supervision.
He said judgments of the Supreme Court required him to identify the range of penalties available in respect of the case and then to place this matter on the scale of that range appropriate to the facts, before discounting such factors in favour of Power as were relevant.
Mr Justice Carney noted the range of penalty went from zero for a suspended sentence to life imprisonment and he place this case on the range as meriting 12 years. Taking factors urged in Power's favour into consideration, he jailed him for nine years
Garda Avril Phelan told prosecuting counsel Paul Carroll that she arrested Power on September 6th, 2005, after she had taken a detailed statement of complaint from the victim.
Garda Phelan said various relatives of Power refused to make statements when asked to by gardaí. Power had no previous convictions and had never come to Garda attention before this.
The victim told in her statement how Power would tell her that he loved her and would also threaten her that if she told anyone she would be taken away and locked up in a home for bold children.
She often felt "unloved and neglected" and wished she could "just die" while being abused.
"I can still remember how I would feel sick to my stomach as he would kiss me saying 'come on good girl'. I can still smell his breath and it was disgusting. I wanted to get sick. It makes my skin crawl every time I think about it," she said.
Power would sometimes give her money in front of others "so it make him look good" and she said: "It makes me angry when I think of how some family members would say he was very good to me."
She told how she would sometimes wake up to find Power in her bed abusing her.
The day after the rape she was in pain in school and had to be taken home after she became ill. She then began to get into a lot of trouble in school and was unable to concentrate wondering if she would be abused when she went home.
As a result her education suffered she was now limited in her work choice while she observed former school mates driving their own cars, having good jobs and going on holidays.
She recalled trying as a child to plan her day so she wouldn't be left alone with Power and sometimes she would stay out all day to avoid going home because she knew what would happen.
"I constantly worry about other children living in the area," she said. "There are nights that I can't sleep thinking about it."