DAD JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULTS & 11 RAPES
A MAN who “poisoned” his daughter’s youth with years of sexual abuse after they reconnected when she was a child has been jailed for 11-and-ahalf years.
Cyril Mullane (51) was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury of 26 counts of sexually abusing his daughter Chloe Mullane, who waived her right to anonymity, when she was just six, from June 2011 to September 2016.
Mullane, with an address at Borefield, Strokestown, Co Roscommon, was found guilty of 11 counts of oral rape, 14 counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted rape at his homes in Co Sligo and in Norfolk, UK. He had denied the charges.
The court heard that Ms Mullane first met her father when she was six, after her mother reconnected with him after a brief relationship which resulted in her birth.
Visit
Ms Mullane then went to visit her father’s home in Rainbow Cottage, Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo and later to his home in Norfolk.
The court heard Mullane started the abuse starting with inappropriate touching and progressing to oral rape. He attempted to anally rape her when she was aged 12.
The abuse ended when Ms Mullane threatened to tell her mother about the abuse.
In her victim impact statement, which was read out at a previous hearing, Ms Mullane said the abuse left her feeling confused and isolated as a child, and as an adult she struggled to form relationships.
Abuse
She said she felt like “damaged goods” as a result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father.
Ms Mullane said: “I am never able to look into the mirror and not see his face or see him standing behind me.”
Sentencing Mullane yesterday, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo said Ms Mullane’s youth
“was poisoned by the abuse to which she was subjected”.
He said: “She is still struggling to get over it.”
The judge said a sad aspect of the case was that Ms Mullane was initially excited to have her father back in her life, even as he continued to abuse her. He handed down a sentence of 13 years and suspended the final 18 months on a number of conditions.