A Waterford man who fathered a child by his daughter must serve at least one more year of a nine-year sentence imposed on him by the Central Criminal Court in 1996.
Ms Justice McGuinness refused to suspend the balance of his sentence when his case came before her for review. She set October 2nd, 2000, as the next review date.
The then 61-year-old man was jailed on December 19th, 1996, after he pleaded guilty to five charges of having unlawful carnal knowledge of his daughter between June 1975, when she was 11, and December 1985.
Ms Justice McGuinness said she did not feel the time had come to suspend the man's sentence when she rejected an application by his counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC. When she sentenced him in 1996, the judge said she found it disturbing that he appeared to be trying to blame his daughter by suggesting she flaunted herself naked at him when she came home from dances.
The court was told the girl was called "daddy's mistress" and "daddy's girl" by her mother when she tried to confide in her. Her sisters were also unhelpful, though the victim might not have given them the full details.
She did not properly know the facts of life until she was nearly 20. Her father's abuse continued for 10 years until she had the baby. She first confided in her husband several years later.
The defendant initially denied he had frequent intercourse with his daughter but eventually admitted having sex with her when she was 18.
The court heard the abuse happened in their house, in a shed and in the family car.
Ms Justice McGuinness observed at that hearing that the woman had been devastated by her father's actions over so many years, and it was not helpful that her sisters had rejected the child.