Jerry O'Keeffe jailed for rape and indecent assault

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Jerry O'Keeffe was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the Central Criminal Court for regularly raping one daughter and indecently assaulting another. The proceedings were reported on 6 November 2017.

O'Keeffe pleaded guilty to nine sample charges out of 78 original counts shortly before his trial was due to start in July.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed seven-year sentences for the rapes and three-year sentences for the indecent assaults, to run consecutively. He described the offences as extremely serious and said they had destroyed his daughters' childhoods.

The court heard that both daughters had waived their right to anonymity. Amy Barrett and Melissa O'Keeffe said afterwards that they were happy with the sentence but sad because O'Keeffe was still their father.