Dad to be sentenced for sexual assault of daughter over 12-year period (Ireland)

Notice that at least some of these rapes took place during UNNAMED DAD's visitation/access time. Unless the father had actual custody....

http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/ireland/ex-army-man-to-be-sentenced-for-abuse-of-daughter-over-12-year-period-542384.html

Ex-army man to be sentenced for abuse of daughter over 12-year period
Monday, March 05, 2012 - 06:49 PM

A former army sergeant will be sentenced next week after pleading guilty to raping and sexually assaulting his daughter over a 12-year period.

The abuse began in 1975 when the victim was five years of age and continued until she left the family home at the age of 17.

The victim, now aged 41, told the Central Criminal Court that during that time she thought the abuse was normal behaviour.

She said she now suffers from low self esteem and low self worth. She said she feels so much disgust with her body that she has never allowed anyone to see her naked.

The 66-year-old man pleaded guilty to seven charges of the sexual assault of his daughter between August 1975 and August 1988 at various locations in both Co Kildare and Cork.

He also admitted raping her on an unknown date between August 1987 and August 1988 in the family home in Cork.

Detective Garda Sean Stack told prosecuting counsel, Cathleen Noctor BL, that the man began abusing his daughter when the family was living in an army house at the Curragh.

The victim told her mother about the abuse in 1997. When her mother then confronted her estranged ex-husband, he admitted the abuse.

The woman went to gardaí three years later and the man told them that the abuse happened at least once a month.

He said he didn’t find it unusual when she didn’t try to stop him raping her. He believed that his behaviour was caused by something wrong with his mind and that he couldn’t control himself.

The woman said that as a result of the child abuse she had “worn a mask” for years, saying: “I can now take off the mask. I would encourage anyone who has been abused to report it”.

She said she was not afraid of the abuse at the time because it was her father and she thought it was normal.

But, she said, she knew something was wrong and imagined everyday telling someone or hoping someone would notice something different about her.

She said the abuse had a bad affect on her relationship with her mother and sister but that their support since she told them about the abuse has given her courage.

She told the court her father would frighten any boyfriends away and she wondered what her life would be like if she had a father and not a sexual abuser.

Mr Justice Paul Carney adjourned sentencing until next Monday and remanded the man, who has been declared a sex offender, in custody until then.

The man failed to show up for his sentencing last week and the court heard that after gardai in Cork arrested him, he told them he had gone to a local cemetery to hang himself.

Gda Stack said that during two garda interviews the man showed no remorse but said he deserved to be jailed for life because “it was a horror story”.

During the hearing, the victim had just begun reading her victim impact statement when she was interrupted by counsel because the statement she was reading was different to the one previously provided to the court.

Mr Justice Paul Carney suggested to the victim she was trying to “pull a fast one” on the court. It later emerged that her original statement had been handed into a victim support group who had faxed the statement to the DPP.

Ms Noctor said that the statement was altered at some point and the victim and her sister told the court that they were upset about this.

The judge ordered the Cork based support group to appear in court next week to explain their role in the preparation of the statement.