‘I just wanted for the little girl in me to be believed’

A woman whose father has been jailed for 18 years for sexually abusing her from the age of three has said all she wanted was “to be believed”.

John Murphy (61), formerly of Nephin View Manor, Foxford, Co Mayo, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape, indecent assault and sexual assault of his eldest daughter, Sophia Murphy, at locations in Co Galway and Co Mayo on dates between 1988 and 2001. He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Murphy in 2010.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Ms Murphy, who is now 33, said she waived her anonymity to encourage other victims to come forward.

“I feel it is the victim that feels imprisoned, they feel they’ve done wrong, and plus I spent my whole life never being believed and I was always made out to be the liar and the crazy one,” she said.

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“I just wanted for the little girl in me to be believed.

“Being believed is the most important thing of it all really, because not alone do you feel the abuse, but you also feel like you’re going stir crazy, you start to punish yourself because when other people doubt you, your start to doubt yourself and it’s very important to be believed and to be able to talk about it.”