A Laois man who raped and sexually assaulted his stepdaughter over an eight year period has received a 14-year prison sentence.
Noel Maher (42) began sexually assaulting Amy Kenna in August 2001, when she was 10, and began raping her when she was 13.
The Central Criminal Court yesterday heard that the victim was waiving her right to anonymity so Maher can be identified.
Last July, after a seven-day trial, a jury found Maher guilty of three counts of sexually assaulting the girl on dates between August 2001 and August 2007 at different locations in Co Laois. Maher, formerly of Barrow Way, Spa Street, Portarlington, was also convicted of 34 counts of raping the girl between August 2005 and November 2009.
As part of his bail conditions Maher was living at Barrack Street, Cork city, from 2012 to 2014.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the victim has undergone great suffering, and said “she has shown great courage and resilience”.
No mitigating circumstances
He said the appropriate sentence was 14 years and noting the absence of any expression of remorse, he found no mitigating circumstances in Maher’s defence.
He suspended the last two years of the sentence to encourage Maher to rehabilitate and stressed this is conditional on Maher taking part in a sex offender’s programme while in prison.
Sgt Adrian McQueeney told prosecuting council Conor Devally SC, that in November 2009, gardaí were called to the home address where an argument between the man and his stepdaughter was taking place.
Sexual assault
In the course of the argument, the victim, who was 18 at the time, told gardaí she had been raped and subjected to sexual assault over an eight-year period by her stepfather.
She said he started to sexually assault her when she was between 10 and 13 and told her “this is what is going to happen”, before making her give him oral sex.
He later brought her to a wooded area in the county and to a laneway where he raped and sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions.
She told gardaí she recalled a threat that if she told anyone he would kill her and harm her siblings.
The sexual assaults and rapes continued until August 2009 when her mother realised something was happening.
The man continued to sexually assault and rape Ms Kenna for a further three months before gardaí were called to the house.
Defence counsel John Peart SC, said Maher is a father of five. A HSE audit into the family circumstances around Maher found there are no other child protection issues.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Kenna said she “panics” at night, but this has lessened since she reported the crime to gardaí. She said her stepfather never allowed her to spend time alone with friends and she tried to cut her wrists in the hope that the abuse would stop.
“When I did report it, I went to counselling but I didn’t like it. But I will go again,” she said.