A Donegal man was today sentenced to three years for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Judge Ray Fullam imposed the term on 34-year-old father of three Kenneth McDonald but suspended nine months of the sentence at Donegal Circuit Court.
McDonald, of Ernedale Heights, Ballyshannon, has also been placed on the sex offenders 'register. He was convicted by a jury of four counts of sexual assault on the girl on dates between June 1st and November 30th 2003. The offences occurred in his car near woodlands in south Donegal.
Judge Fullam said McDonald, who was 28 at the time, had taken advantage of the girl when she was legally incapable of consenting to sex because of her age. McDonald also knew at the time that she was effectively abandoned, without guidance and was "beginning on a life of promiscuity". He added to her "degradation" for his own self-gratification.
The girl, who is now 19, told the trial earlier this month that she had full sex 57 times with 22 adult men when she was 13. She kept a diary of her encounters and a "period chart" to help her identify the father if she became pregnant.
The court heard that there are to be five other prosecutions. Judge Fullam was also told yesterday that initially gardaí were concerned that there was a child-sex ring in operation in the area but this proved to be untrue.
During the two-hour sentencing hearing, part of a victim impact report from the girl was read by prosecuting counsel Eileen O'Leary, SC.
In it, the girl said that shortly after she was taken into care in December 2003 following the start of a garda investigation she began taking drugs regularly to "block out the trauma". She absconded a number of times and was rebellious.
She said: "I missed my family and wanted and longed to be with them all the time. I started self-harming and cut my arms and legs. I overdosed a number of times."
Then she started to change and attended courses and programmes on self-esteem and alcohol and drugs awareness. "I became aware I couldn't live like I did any longer."
She constantly believed there was something mentally wrong with her and during that period she continually blocked out her past.
She said: "I have had a lot of bad thoughts and worries about my past. Even now I still have horrible images in my head. I'm not totally recovered from the experiences of my childhood but I do believe I am on the road to recovery."
Her statement added that during the investigation her emotions were "very mixed up" and she felt she was "all over the place."
Garda Liam Feeney, who led the investigation, told the court the girl was now "most definitely on a better road by far" than he had ever seen her.
At one stage of the investigation, when McDonald went through a period of bad depression, firearms were taken with the co-operation of the Army from his house "for his own safety."
Judge Fullam heard that when McDonald joined the Army he was following a family tradition as his father had also been a serving soldier. McDonald was based throughout his career at Finner Camp, a few kilometres from his home.
He served twice in the Lebanon. He resigned last Friday after 15 years service, ahead of a mandatory dismissal which would have followed his imprisonment.
His record in the Army varied from "fairly good" in the early years to "excellent" in the last few years. A letter from Army chaplain Fr Alan Ward, written to coincide with McDonald's resignation, said he had progressed from an "aimless and dissolute" lifestyle to a "courteous and obliging individual" following his 2004 marriage and was now "a very different and better man than he was at the time of these contemptible events".