A father who raped his two daughters when they were just four and five years old also sexually abused three sisters from another family, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday
The 61-year-old accused man was sentenced earlier this year having pleaded guilty to six indecent assault offences relating to the three sisters.
The court was told by Aileen Donnelly SC, prosecuting, that when his daughters heard about that case it gave them the courage to go to the Garda.
The man, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to six counts: one of rape on each girl and four of indecent assault.
The offences happened, primarily in the family home, from 1980 to 1985.
Both daughters read out victim impact statements to Mr Justice Paul Carney.
They grew up hating their father, and the older girl said she feared he would abuse her younger sister and tried to protect her, even though she was only eight years old at the time.
She said the family home brings flashbacks and "each room has a horrific tale to tell, if only the walls could talk".
The older sibling was raped and indecently assaulted in the family home, frequently in her parents' bed. The bottom three steps of the stairs creaked and she feared him hearing them. "He stole my innocence," she said.
The now 33-year-old mother is in counselling. "I wish I could connect with the way I was then," she said describing herself at that time as "an unhappy ghost that needs to be rescued. I am going to counselling and hope to be reunited with that little girl." She had a nervous breakdown when she was 22 and has taken anti-depressants since.
She fears "constantly" for the safety of her children.
The younger sister, who was raped in the sitting room on a Sunday afternoon after her father sent her older sister and a younger sibling to the shop, told the court: "I remember it as if it was yesterday, it is so clear in my head."
As she grew up, she knew what had happened "was dirty, even though I didn't understand it". She grew up "in total fear" of her father.
She feared going downstairs on Christmas morning because he would be asleep on the sofa as a result of drinking and she feared being left alone with him. She also grew up hating him and "wished he was dead". She was 16 when she told her first boyfriend and her sister what happened.
At the time of her junior certificate exam "the abuse hit me", and she became very depressed. Her hair fell out, depression arose and she had "flashbacks which never stopped. I still suffer flashbacks."
Now 29, she suffers from severe anxiety attacks and depression and is on anti-depressants. She had to give up working last year and spent a month in bed.
Both women said the gardaí involved in the prosecution were "fantastic".
Roderick O'Hanlon, defending, said the accused was being assessed for a sexual offenders' rehabilitation programme, and is currently in Arbour Hill prison.
He is serving a 2½-year term, which was imposed earlier this year relating to the three sisters from a different family.
The Central Criminal Court will pass sentence on Tuesday.
VOICES OF THE VICTIMS
"I remember it as if it was yesterday, it is so clear in my head . . . He took my childhood and it can never be replaced."- The younger victim, now aged 29, who suffers severe anxiety attacks and depression.
"I hated getting out of bed in the morning in case he heard me . . . I feared him doing it to my little sister . . . Each room has a horrific tale to tell."- The older victim, who was just eight when the abuse began.