A Wexford publican and shopkeeper was yesterday sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing his sister and three other girls.
Simon Murphy (49), a father of four, of The Hollow, Ramsgrange, New Ross, had pleaded guilty to 42 counts of sexual abuse and unlawful carnal knowledge over 25 years.
Sentencing him at Wexford Circuit Court, Judge Olive Buttimer said she was taking Murphy's plea of guilt into account, as well as the fact that he had sought counselling and was a victim of sexual abuse.
Murphy was charged with six counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of his sister Nuala Murphy, who is now 42, between 1969 and 1971 at the family home in Ramsgrange and in a number of outhouses. The abuse started when she was 10. Ms Murphy waived her right to anonymity, allowing the defendant to be publicly named. She told the court she had been disowned by her family for pursuing the case.
Murphy was also charged with 24 counts of sexual assault on a Dublin girl aged between 12 and 16; one count of sexual assault on a then 16-year-old girl, from Wexford, and seven counts of sexual assault and four of unlawful carnal knowledge of the fourth victim, who was aged 13 at the time, and was also from Wexford. The offences in all three cases occurred between 1991 and 1994.
Judge Buttimer sentenced him to five years in prison for the charges of unlawful carnal knowledge and three years for sexual abuse to run consecutively. But she suspended the final two years of the sentence.
"That does not take away from the betrayal of trust of the families and friends involved and the effect that this has had on them. They have displayed great courage. Hopefully today will be a turning point for them," she said.
Nuala Murphy broke down in court as she described the mental torment he had subjected her to for the past 33 years as a result of the sexual abuse he committed.
"I have been rejected by my family but I had to bring the sexual abuse out into the open. My family threatened that they would disown me if I brought this out into the open. I don't want any other child to suffer what I had to," she said through tears.
She came from a family of eight children and the majority of the sexual abuse occurred in her bedroom, at night while her sister slept in the bunk alongside her, she said. She began abusing alcohol at the age of 12.
She said she became emotionless and "turned into a rock" while the abuse was taking place. She had rocked herself to sleep after every incident occurred. Ms Murphy said that her brother told her there was "nothing wrong" with what he was doing.
"Since what happened, I am now really nervous and hate people looking at me in public because I never felt safe in my own home because of what he did. I used to pretend there was nothing wrong and I excelled in school and athletics. I had this perfect image," she told the court.
Ms Murphy, who flew back to Wexford from the US where she now resides, told the court that if she had gone to the Garda about the case, when confronting her brother in 1987, then she could have stopped what he did to the other three girls.
In evidence the Dublin victim, now 23, said the sexual abuse had ruined her life and that she still woke from nightmares over what happened to her.
Murphy told the court he was "very sorry" and he had "disgraced" everyone.
