A man who as a teenager “destroyed” his younger sister’s childhood by sexually abusing her has been jailed for 5½ years.
The Central Criminal Court heard the Dublin man sexually assaulted his sister on dates between January 1987 and August 1991.
The 53-year-old pleaded guilty to nine sample counts, including indecent assault and two of oral rape.
His victim was about seven when the then 15-year-old started to abuse her in his bedroom, at a laneway and in a Dublin field by forcing her to perform oral sex and to touch him inappropriately.
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He cannot be named, to protect her anonymity.
On Friday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed a sentence of six years and six months, with the final 12 months suspended for two years on strict conditions.
He said the man committed “serious sexual offences” on his younger sister and it was “clear” he knew what he was doing was wrong.
The judge considered mitigation and that the man was aged between 15 and 19 at the time of offending.
Mr Justice McDermott said the “abuse was repeated so often it became a dominating feature” of the girl’s life and the man took “almost every opportunity” to abuse her.
Reading her victim-impact statement previously, the woman said a big brother
is supposed to protect their little sister.
“I loved and idolised you,” she said, adding that he “destroyed” her childhood and took her innocence.
“Keeping a secret like this almost took me to the edge,” she said, adding that her relationships suffered due to feelings of shame and low self-worth.
She said she consumed alcohol and found it difficult to regulate her anger.
“You were my brother, you were supposed to protect me but you didn’t. You destroyed what should have been a happy childhood and replaced it with fear and anxiety.”
She told him: “You took my identity and controlled me for many years, but now I can say I’m free.”
The court heard she estimates the abuse took place in the field at least 50 times. The abuse ended after she started secondary school.
She went to a Garda station in 1995, when she was about 15, and gave some details, the court heard. Social services were notified, but she did not feel able to go into the full details as she did not want to disclose the abuse while her parents were still alive.
She told her husband and a sister about the abuse in the early 2000s and made a formal complaint to gardaí in 2018.
The man met gardaí voluntarily for interview and denied the allegations.
An initial trial date in 2023 could not go ahead, while a second trial date in October 2024 also did not proceed as the man was admitted to hospital due to self-harm. He entered guilty pleas shortly afterwards.
Defence senior counsel Tony McGillicuddy said his client wished to apologise to the victim and the court.
Mr Justice McDermott said abuse by a sibling can be “more damaging” due to “betrayal, trauma and social and family disruption”.
It can be “more difficult” to report offending within a family and it requires “exceptional strength and courage” to come forward, he said.
He noted a probation officer expressed “dissatisfaction” with the man’s level of insight into his offending and its impact.
He backdated the sentence to last October when the man went into custody.
