Paedophile who raped his stepdaughter given 13 years

A MAN who groomed and sexually abused his stepdaughter when she was still in primary school has been locked up for 13 years.

His victim told Trim Circuit Court in Co. Meath yesterday that she is still living in fear and suffers nightmares of him returning to kill her.

She said the abuse began while she was in primary school and continued for three years on an almost nightly basis whenever her stepfather was at home, until she was 15 years old.

The court heard that the accused got the girl high by giving her air freshener cans to sniff and bought her cigarettes and alcohol as reward. He also pierced her nipple when a tattoo parlour refused to do so.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the victim, was found guilty following a sevenday trial last month on 18 counts of sexually assaulting her between April 2007 and September 2009 and eight counts of rape between September 2008 and September 2009.

The defendant denied all of the allegations, which he claimed were part of a conspiracy by his stepdaughter to rid him from the family.

The court heard that after Garda interviews about the allegations in 2009, the defendant had cut all ties with the family in Ireland and was tracked down in South Africa in 2012 through social media. He was extradited from there in 2015.

The victim said much of the sexual abuse occurred while they were at home on their own but sometimes while her mother or friends were in the house. On one occasion her stepfather got into her bed beside her and abused her while two of her friends were in the same room.

A number of the complainant’s friends testified in the case.

In a victim-impact statement, the woman said her stepfather had taken away her childhood and that she kept a knife hidden in her bedside locker for fear he would return.

Judge Patrick Quinn sentenced the defendant to 15 years with the final two years suspended.