One of O'Rourke's victims, who gave a statement in court on Thursday, is to lodge a complaint about her treatment. The woman told reporters yesterday she was going to write to the President of the High Court about Judge Kieran O'Connor's questioning of why she wanted to say anything. He told her she did not have to give evidence as O'Rourke had pleaded guilty.
Interrupting her statement, he said he understood her trauma without having to hear it in court, even though he was a man.
Referring to her abuse by O'Rourke from the age of 11, Judge O'Connor said: "I've heard much worse actually". When she said she had given up swimming he suggested she tried swimming in the sea.
Yesterday she said she had felt "belittled" by his questioning. "I tried to talk about how controlling Derry O'Rourke was and there he was, himself a male, trying to control that," she said.
Before sentencing yesterday the court heard another six victims.
The first woman cried as she said she could not tell her parents about the abuse because her father "saved and did everything he could" to send her to school. Her self-esteem had been taken away and it was a secret she kept from everybody. "I don't think this man understands fully what effect his actions have had on me," she said.
"I agree," Judge O'Connor said. "I've read your victim impact statement and I fully understand the trauma that you suffered when you were a very young girl." He said the woman was "reliving what he did to you" and she was causing herself "unnecessary distress".
"I'm sorry, judge, if my distress upsets you," the woman said clearly. "But I will feel better for having said it."
Another woman said she needed to "feel vindicated" by telling O'Rourke what he had done to her life.
Judge O'Connor sympathised with the third woman who made a statement. "I appreciate it was a horrible experience for you."
Other victims cried as a woman said she had only told her mother about it when she was 24. She had never made her mother cry until then, and it was O'Rourke who had made her cry. "He violated me and he ruined my life, and all the prayers in the world won't change that," she said.
