Man given five years with final three and a half suspended for abusing cousin

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

A man who raped and sexually abused his cousin received a five-year sentence, with its final three and a half years suspended, from Mr Justice Robert Eagar at the Central Criminal Court. He was jailed for 18 months, with the sentence conditional on undergoing a sex offenders’ treatment programme in prison.

The abuse began when the man was 12 and his cousin was six. The proceedings were reported on 30 July 2016.

He had previously admitted sample counts on the morning his trial was due to begin: two charges of sex assault, two of rape and two of oral rape. The offences occurred in Dublin between 10 October 2004 and 31 March 2007.

The judge said the girl’s family, including extended relatives, knew about the abuse in 2007, when she was eight. He strongly criticised their failure to contact gardaí or social services, singling out her grandparents. He said the family bore responsibility for her suffering, including self-harm and suicide attempts that worsened at puberty. The court heard she approached gardaí herself at 14.

Reading her victim impact statement at 17, the girl said she only understood the extent of the damage at puberty. She described lasting scars from self-harm and said she would never finish school. She said she could neither forgive nor forget and hoped other children would be spared similar abuse.

After sentencing, the man cried loudly while holding rosary beads. He said he could not go to prison and threatened to take his own life.