Terminally Ill Man Given 18 Month Sentence For Abusing Daughters

A 74-year-old terminally ill man who sexually abused five of his daughters throughout their childhood has been jailed for 18 months.

The man pleaded guilty to 16 sample counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual assault between 1977 and 1990 in a number of locations around Galway.

The court heard the man has only weeks or months to live and will most likely die in prison, however Mr Justice Paul Carney rejected a defence application to allow him to spend his last days trying to reconcile with his family, which has been split apart by his offences.

The judge said he would usually try to avoid sentencing someone to die in prison, but that the offences were of such gravity that a custodial sentence had to be imposed.

He said because of the man’s condition he was only imposing a fraction of the sentence he normally would in such cases. He noted that the prison service had stated it would have great difficulty in meeting the man’s medical needs but that it would be able to cope.

The man appeared in court with a portable ventilator and coughed heavily through the hearing. He addressed the court at one point, saying: “I’m truly sorry, could you please forgive me?”

An investigation was launched in 2008 when five of the man’s daughters made a complaint to gardaí about being sexually abused throughout their childhood. The women are now all in their 30s.

The elderly man had denied all accusations and insisted his daughters were lying only later admitted to the abuse and blaming his bad memory on deteriorating health.

(H)