A 79-year-old Waterford man who raped his granddaughter has been jailed for three years by Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
The man pleaded guilty to five counts of rape between January 1990 and December 1995. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault and three of sexual assault on dates between January 1989 and December 1995.
Insp Tom O'Grady told Mr Kenneth Mills SC, prosecuting, that the defendant abused the girl over a six-year period until she was 12 years old.
Mr Justice Carney said that such sexual offences normally merited a seven-year sentence but in imposing a three-year term he was taking into account the wishes of the victim and her mother. The judge said he unconditionally suspended the final 18 months of the sentence because the defendant had pleaded guilty at an early stage and did not occupy a trial date.
Unless the reason for his suspending portion of the sentence was reported in the media it would be misrepresentation of his handling of the matter.
Mr Justice Carney added that in the light of the representations made in the medical reports, he granted the defendant leave to appeal sentence and would remand him on bail for that purpose. The defendant would have to accept, however, that the Director of Public Prosecutions could also appeal leniency of sentence.