Noel Maher sentenced to 14 years for rape and sexual assault

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

Noel Maher was sentenced to 14 years, with the final two suspended, at the Central Criminal Court on 21 October 2014 for raping and sexually assaulting his stepdaughter. The offences occurred at different locations in Co Laois over an eight-year period.

A jury had convicted Maher of three counts of sexual assault and 34 counts of rape. The judge said there were no mitigating circumstances and made the suspension conditional on participation in a sex-offender programme while in prison.

The victim’s impact statement described continuing difficulties after reporting the abuse.