AN ELDERLY bachelor has been jailed for five years for the sexual abuse of four of his nephews and one of his nieces 20 years ago.
The 65-year-old Dublin man, who was described as a recovering alcoholic, wept as his defence counsel related how he had drunk poison in a suicide attempt, partly because he could not face the prospect of jail, after his family confronted him about the abuse.
One of the nephews, now aged 38, read his victim impact statement to the court. He said his innocence had been taken from him. Life was a daily struggle. He started drinking aged 13 and alcoholic blackouts were his only form of relief.
He had also abused drugs and had difficulty in relationships. He thanked the Garda and his family and said he hoped justice would be done so he could get on with his life.
The man’s niece, now aged 39, said she still felt “dirty and damaged” and the abuse has affected her confidence, her sex life and relationships.
She said she had learned to blank out the abuse which “has ruined my life completely” but did not want people to feel sorry for her.
“He was supposed to be minding me,” she said. “I will never be able to trust anyone again.”
In a personal letter read to the court, she asked: “Please let the system not fail me again.”
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault against one nephew; two counts of buggery and one of indecent assault against a second nephew; and one count of indecent assault each against two further nephews.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault of a niece between 1975 and 1983.
The children were aged between five and 13 at the time of the offences.
Judge Patrick McCartan said the accused had destroyed the lives of some of his victims and “the trust that they placed in him was hugely abused in ways that could not be worse”.
The judge commended the work of the gardaí in the case and the bravery of the two victims who spoke in court.
He imposed concurrent sentences totalling five years and extended the hope that there would be a better future for all involved in the case.
Garda Karl McNamara told Paul Carroll, prosecuting, that the accused man’s extended family lived near each other. In the late 1970s and early 1980s some of his brother’s and sister’s children would occasionally stay overnight at his home where most of the abuse occurred.
The abuse came to light following a family confrontation in 2003 and a subsequent complaint to the Garda in 2007.
The children were told the sexual abuse incidents were to be a secret and promises were made about football matches and buying them crisps and soft drinks at the pub.
The man was interviewed by gardaí in March 2008 and made general admissions about the abuse.
Garda McNamara agreed under cross-examination that the man told gardaí he “had been waiting for that day for six years” since the family had confronted him.
He agreed that the man expressed remorse on a number of occasions and became visibly upset.
Garda McNamara agreed that the man said the abuse happened when he had been drinking and that to his knowledge there had been no further incidents since he stopped drinking in 1984.
Pádraig Dwyer SC, defending, said the man wished to apologise for the hurt he had caused and submitted that he was taking complete responsibility for his behaviour.
He handed in a report from the Granada Institution which assessed the man to be at “low to moderate risk” of reoffending.
He said the man was willing to continue counselling and his prospects for rehabilitation were “quite good”.
Mr Dwyer said that since the man had stopped drinking, his “moral compass has been restored” and, despite the fact that “he spent most of his adult life in an alcoholic haze”, the man accepted that alcohol was not an excuse.
He said the man had lived his life “socially isolated” and had difficulties forming relationships with women.
The man had €50,000 available to offer as compensation, he added.