A 76-year-old Co Clare man is to be jailed today after pleading guilty to five counts of indecent assault and four counts of sexual assault on his grand-daughter over four years.
Remanding the retired farmer in custody for sentencing today, Judge Sean O'Leary told Ennis Circuit Court yesterday there was no doubt in his mind that the man would be going to jail.
A garda said the abuse started shortly after the man moved into his son's family home in 1988 after his wife died. The man first indecently assaulted his grand-daughter, then aged six, in his bedroom in 1989. He said the assaults would continue a couple of times a week and sometimes every night until 1993.
The girl believed the man when he warned her that her parents would no longer love her and she would be thrown out of the house if she told them about the incidents.
The court was told the offences came to light after the girl asked her mother could she be pregnant after her mother gave her a book on the facts of life. Since the man's arrest last May, he has lived in a caravan outside the family home.