A Kildare farm labourer has been jailed for 12 years for raping and sexually abusing his daughter for almost a decade. A local detective garda told the Central Criminal Court that the abuse began in 2001 when the girl was just 3-years-old.
He raped her for the first time on her seventh birthday when the rest of her family were out buying presents.
The man (48), who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, was convicted in January following a trial but he does not accept the jury's verdict.
The court heard the abuse happened daily and that when the girl was about 12, he raped her after tying her to a tree with calving rope. The detective explained that this rope tightens when it is pulled.
He has no previous convictions.
The detective told Remy Farrell BL, prosecuting, that the victim confided in her mother about the abuse when her parent's relationship ended.
The detective revealed that uniformed gardai happened upon the man’s car pulled into an ESB substation one evening.
The girl said during interview that her father had started to abuse her by pinning her down by the shoulders with his knees. He got back into his driver’s side when he saw the patrol car arrive.
The detective told Mr. Farrell that the man locked his daughter into a shed in the dark after one rape, before she escaped about an hour later.
The man denied all allegations during his garda interviews and suggested his daughter was making them up.
"Any man can be a father, but it takes a good man to be a dad"
The detective read out the girl's victim impact statement, in which she described how she could never call her father 'dad' again. She said words such as 'shame, hurt, anger, depression, fear' are constantly in her head.
She said the man made her feel like the abuse was a 'normal father/daughter thing' and that sometimes she feels 'death is the only answer'.
The girl also described not knowing if she would ever be able to have a boyfriend. She attributed being bullied at school to having no confidence from her abuse.
"Any man can be a father, but it takes a good man to be a dad" the girl stated. She praised the gardai who had conducted the investigation and said she thought she was now ready for counselling.
Mr. Justice Barry White said he agreed with the view of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that the rape offences warranted a 15 year sentence.
He suspended the final three years of the sentence for three years. He ordered the man, who has been registered as a sex offender, not to have any unwanted contact with his daughter during the suspended time.
