A 59-year-old man who raped and sexually assaulted his then teenage stepdaughter in north Co Dublin has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.
Peter Morrison, Bridge Street, Dundalk, Co Louth, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and four sample charges of indecent assault between May 1981 and November 21st, 1984.
The victim asked that Morrison be named in media reports after the hearing in which she described him in evidence to the court as "a pathetic image of a man with no shame".
The now 34-year-old mother told the court that it was only through the support of her family she realised she had done nothing wrong. She had been dreading a knock on the door telling her the abuse had happened to someone else and this did indeed occur.
She said her childhood was lost through his raping and abusing her sexually and mentally. She felt he thought it was his right to do what he wanted to her because he had given her a roof over her head and she wasn't his "flesh and blood".
The victim said she had children herself and could not imagine how something like this could happen. She called Morrison a pathetic excuse of a man and when she looked at him in court she realised she was no longer a victim but a survivor.
Insp Joseph Kelly said the abuse occurred when the victim was aged 11 to 16 and her mother was not in the house. Morrison told her this was their little secret and not to tell anyone.
She made a complaint in 1986 to gardaí but proceedings did not go ahead at that time as she told the court she did not feel she was strong enough to cope with a trial.
Insp Kelly said Morrison received an 18-month sentence in 1999 for a sexual assault on a work colleague. The gardaí then contacted his stepdaughter again in the light of the other offence and she decided to go ahead with her case.
Mr Barry White SC, defending, said Morrison felt a lot of shame and remorse over what had happened and had been living in hell. His client had been abused as a child and had a drink problem, but was not using this as an excuse.
Mr Justice Carney imposed nine years for the rape charges with four years concurrently for the indecent assault charges and suspended the last 18 months in view of Morrison's guilty plea. This, he said, left a slot vacant for dealing with the trial of some other violent criminal.