A FATHER who put his daughter through “hell on earth” over more then a decade of sexual abuse has been jailed for 14 years.
The 49-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was found guilty following a Central Criminal Court trial last month of multiple counts of buggery, indecent assault and rape of his daughter between 1986 and 2000.
The young woman outlined in a victim impact statement, which was read to the court, the physical pain which the sexual abuse had caused her and how she prayed he would die or she would die so it would end.
She said her father beat her during and after the rapes and she never received any medical attention for her injuries in case the authorities were alerted.
She said she asked him many times to stop but he kept doing it and showed no remorse.
“I will never be right again,” she said. “That man put me through hell and back. I don’t know how I am alive today. I am trying to put my life back together but most of the time I want to die.”
The daughter described how she had lived “in total fear” all her life.
She said she was angry that no one had helped her and said she did not know what a normal life was.
“I wonder will I be able to get on like anyone else?” she asked. “Will this be my first Christmas?”
Mr Justice Barry White noted the man had shown no remorse and he imposed concurrent sentences totalling 14 years.
A garda told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that from the time the girl was six years old until she was an adult, she was subjected to repeated sexual abuse, apart from a number of years when her father was absent.