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A JUDGE jailed a man at Limerick Circuit Court this Monday for sexually assaulting and exploiting a girl from the age of 10 for his own sexual gratification.

The woman, now aged in her 20s, said in her victim impact statement she can still hear the man’s voice whisper, “Don’t tell, don’t tell, it is our little secret”. 

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The court heard that the accused sexually assaulted the girl during sleepovers with his daughter at his house, after swimming, and “actively groomed her”. 

He sent her photos of his penis and she sent him photos of her vagina and a video of her masturbating, all at his request.

The man, who cannot be named due to strict reporting restrictions so as not to identify the victim, was charged with 31 offences. He pleaded guilty to six sample charges – three sexual assaults, two sexual exploitation of a child and one possession of child sex abuse images.

Judge Colin Daly jailed the man, aged in his 50s, for seven years with the final year suspended on each of the three sexual assaults.

The judge imposed jail terms of three years and six months on each of the sexual exploitation of a child charges. The accused was also given a one year and four months prison sentence for possession of child sex abuse images. All the sentences are to be served concurrently. He was placed on the sex offenders register for an “indefinite duration”.

“He clearly groomed her for his sexual gratification,” said Judge Daly.

Prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan, instructed by State solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the evidence with the assistance of Garda Mark McGauley last week.

Mr O’Sullivan said in 2010 the victim was attending a school in County Limerick. Over the Christmas and New Year period of 2010 / 2011 she had a sleepover with the daughter of the accused. 

The two girls slept in the same bedroom. The court heard the accused and his wife were sleeping in separate rooms.

“One morning the victim sat on his bed beside him. She saw him touch his penis with his hand. It was not the first time this happened. He said she was ‘beautiful’ and a ‘special girl’.

“They would stay up late watching films and he would tell her to come into his bedroom in the morning. He actively groomed her for his own sexual gratification,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

The abuse progressed to the accused putting the victim’s hand on his penis and he would put his fingers into her vagina.

“He told her, ‘This is our little secret’. It commenced when she was 10,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

The prosecuting barrister said in the summer of 2011 the defendant brought the victim swimming. Afterwards they went for a walk and lay down on the grass.

“He put his hand inside her underwear and put two fingers inside her vagina,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

He said the accused and victim would communicate via Facebook and Viber late at night when everyone was asleep. The accused requested the victim send photos of her vagina. She sent him 20 photos of her vagina and one video or her masturbating. He sent her 10 photos of his penis.

Mr O’Sullivan said the photos and video were not recovered as the accused told the victim “to delete them which she did”. The accused told her when she was 18 they would go to Spain and “go further”. “She didn’t want that,” said Mr O’Sullivan. The barrister said during another sleepover the accused asked the victim to kiss his penis and he kissed her vagina.

“I asked him to stop. It felt weird,” the victim told gardai.

The child sex abuse emerged in 2015 after a friend (not the accused’s daughter) saw the victim texting the accused late at night during a sleepover.

“The girl thought it was weird and told her mother, who told the victim’s mother, who asked the victim about the relationship. The gravity of the offending emerged,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

A formal complaint to gardai was made in 2016 and the victim was interviewed by specialist gardai. The accused was arrested in 2017. Gardai discovered 120 images of child sex abuse (not of the victim) on his phone.

The DPP instructed the victim be charged in 2018. The accused subsequently left the jurisdiction and was arrested on foot of a European Arrest Warrant. He was extradited back to Ireland in 2024 where he has been remanded in custody since.

The young woman read out her victim impact statement. She said the abuse has permanently shaped her into the woman she is today as she suffers from severe depression, anxiety and complex post traumatic stress disorder. She said she experienced flashbacks almost daily.

 “He will never truly understand what he did to me. He stole my childhood and he stole my adulthood because I will never cleanse the memories from my  mind,” she said.

The victim said her lifelong dream was to travel the world but she became consumed with fear that she would encounter her abuser in another country after he left the jurisdiction.

“The abuse continues to filter into my daily life in unexpected ways and trigger me. A song he used to play might play in a shop and it instantly transports me back, memories of what he did would surge into my mind. I can still hear his voice whisper, ‘Don’t tell, don’t tell, it’s our little secret’.”

“I want the court to fully understand what I’ve suffered, what my life is truly like, what happened to me is not going and it never will. I am a true victim of child sexual abuse – it permeates everyday and everywhere I go.“

Mark Nicholas, for the accused, said the woman read the victim impact statement eloquently and the mitigation he gives, on behalf of his client, doesn’t take away from that. He said it was an awfully regrettable breach of trust.

Mr Nicholas said his client is aged in his 50s, has pleaded guilty and did charity work. He cited a psychological report which put the defendant at a below average risk of reoffending.

Counsel read out a letter of apology from the accused in which he expressed his remorse and shame. A member of the victim’s family said from the body of the court: “We don’t accept your apology.”