Judge indicates three-year sentence for sexual assault of daughter

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

Judge Melanie Greally indicated a three-year prison sentence, with the last 18 months suspended, for a man who sexually assaulted his intellectually disabled adult daughter. She allowed him time to arrange his medication before custody.

He pleaded guilty to sexual assault at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The attack took place at his daughter’s home in Dublin on 23 October 1999, when she was 34. The proceedings were reported on 14 March 2016. His record included a previous forgery conviction from 1989.

The defence had requested the delay for medication preparations. The judge said she would finalise sentencing on Friday, with custody to begin then. His health problems included limited mobility and cognitive difficulties associated with alcoholism.

Defence counsel Keith Spencer described the assault as an isolated incident brought about by alcohol and said his client felt deep remorse. The man told gardaí he remembered little of the attack, but accepted his daughter’s account because he believed she was truthful.

His daughter, then aged 51, read her victim impact statement. She described fearing that she would not be believed, which had made speaking to gardaí difficult. Keith Spencer passed on her father’s apology.