The mother of the young girl at the centre of the Mr A case has demanded to see "justice done" and said her family had received no support from the State.
Speaking today following the release of the 41-year-old man by the High Court yesterday, the woman said her family will now have to rebuild their lives. The man was jailed in 2004 for the statutory rape of the girl, who was 12.
"He should be still in jail," the girl's mother said today.
The man known as Mr A, who was aged 38 at the time of the offence, plied the girl with alcohol and had sex with her when she woke up to be sick. He was known to the family.
The girl, now 16, told a newspaper today she feared the man would return to attack her again.
Mother of the girl at the centre of the Mr A case
Speaking on RTÉ 2FM's Gerry Ryan Show, her mother, identified as Jackie, said the attention the case had received in recent days was "just like living it all over again".
The woman confirmed her family had had no contact from the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General or from the Minister for Justice's office. She and the gardaí involved in the case had broken the news to her daughter, she said.
"I wasn't actually told. I read it from the newspaper. It was just a little article and I realised it could be him. I was told on Monday." She said her daughter had been told the news after yesterday's court hearing.
"We told her everything when it was over. If there was a way that he was going to be kept in we weren't going to say anything. But on account of him being let go, we had to tell her."
"She was numb."
The woman said the Government has "an awful lot to answer for" and that other children in similar cases would also have to relive everything "over and over again".
There had been no support from the State for her family, she said.
"What about my daughter? Everybody is focusing on this person. What about me? What about her, and what about my family? What support and what help have we got?"
The girl's mother praised the gardaí, who she said had given "100 per cent". "They were very understanding."
Now, the family would try to rebuild their lives. "It's going to be hard, but we have to do it."
She said it was "unfortunate" that the legal issue had come to light in her daughter's case.
"We haven't been protected by the State. They have let me down."
Her daughter had been "just a child", she said.
"I would like to see justice done. He should be still in jail."
The woman also said the man, jailed for three years for the statutory rape of her daughter before the Supreme Court found the law to be unconstitutional, should have been jailed for longer.