Patrick Shiels jailed for raping and abusing his daughter

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

Patrick Shiels was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the Central Criminal Court on 22 July 2022 for orally raping and sexually abusing his daughter when she was aged between four and eight.

Following a retrial, Shiels was found guilty of oral rape and four counts of sexual assault at his then home in Togher, Portlaoise, Co Laois, between September 2000 and December 2004. He was also found guilty of two charges of child cruelty for forcing his daughter to drink alcohol and watch pornography.

Shiels had been convicted and jailed after an earlier trial, but was released from custody in July 2021 after the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt set a headline sentence of 12 years for oral rape and reduced it to 10 years. He imposed four-year sentences on each remaining count, to run concurrently, with credit for time already served in custody.

The judge said there was limited scope for mitigation because Shiels did not accept the verdict of two juries and had expressed no remorse. He considered Shiels’ age, lack of previous convictions and the contents of medical reports to be minor mitigating factors.