A Waterford man has been sentence to eight years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of a girl when she was nine years old.
Maurice Colbert (56) of Coolbagh, Clashmore, Co Waterford was found guilty by Central Criminal Court jury of sexually abusing the girl between January 1st, 1994 and December 31st, 1997.
He had denied all the charges.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy called it a “crime of the highest seriousness which must run at almost the very highest end of the scale because there was a child involved.”
He noted the now 25-year-old victim had attempted suicide as a result of the abuse and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
She told the court in a victim impact report that she still had nightmares about it and sometimes feels she is “living the abuse.”
Mr Justice McCarthy noted the Colbert had the full support of his family and read several testimonials from people who knew him, calling him a hard worker and a good family man.
However the judge noted that the testimonials are of limited use because “the very essence of these types of crimes is that they are secret crimes.”
“The person is ostensibly of good character and there is a complete misconception of the type of person they actually are,” he said.
Mr Justice McCarthy imposed ten years post-release supervision “so he will not be a danger to anyone else.”
Garda John Ryan told the court Colbert was a lorry driver with Waterford County council and a small farmer. The girl would visit his house occasionally and the accused would sexually abuse her in the shed out the back. He also orally raped her there and raped her in his bedroom.