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A cross-dressing Donegal man who subjected his step-granddaughter to a series of vile incidents has been jailed.<\/p>\n
William \u2018Bill\u2019 Quinn was handed a five-year prison sentence, with the final 12 months suspended, when he appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court.<\/p>\n
The victim in the case – who was between nine and 10 years old when the incidents occurred – bravely waived her anonymity meaning that Quinn can now be unmasked.<\/p>\n
Quinn, who was married to the victim\u2019s grandmother at the time, forced her to watch as he performed sexual acts on himself while dressed in woman\u2019s clothing.<\/p>\n
Quinn warned the young girl to keep the \u201csecret\u201d and gave her money and presents as a reward for staying silent. He also told her that she could go to jail or members of her family could be killed if she told anyone.<\/p>\n
When the girl confided in her mother, the matter was reported to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na in 2020.<\/p>\n
The now 65-year-old Quinn, with an address at Rossgier, Lifford, was charged with a total of 16 offences – two of sexual exploitation and 14 of sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to three sample charges – two of sexual assault and one of child exploitation – which were acceptable to the DPP on a full facts basis.<\/p>\n
In passing sentencing, Judge John Aylmer said that Quinn was in a position of trust and his actions constituted a \u201cgross breach of trust\u201d in his role as a step-grandfather to her.<\/p>\n
Judge Aylmer said that the incidents were \u201cundoubtedly of a highly-sexualised nature\u201d.<\/p>\n
He noted that Quinn told the girl that she would be put in jail if she told anyone and bribed her with \u201chush money\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe feels that you robbed her of her childhood,\u201d Judge Aylmer told Quinn.<\/p>\n
He pleaded guilty to two charges that he sexually assaulted the woman by masturbating in front of her while crossdressing while at the same time touching or rubbing his body.<\/p>\n
The charges are contrary to section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 as amended by section 37 of the Sexual Offenders Act.<\/p>\n
He also entered a guilty plea to a charge of the sexual exploitation of a child. This charge is contrary to section 3 (2) (b) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 as amended by section 6 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Act 2007 and as substituted by section 3 (2) of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008.<\/p>\n
At a previous sitting of the court, Garda Liam McBride outlined the details of the case to state prosecutor Ms Fiona Crawford BL.<\/p>\n
The girl initially conveyed details of the incidents to her mother when telling her in a message: \u201cMammy, I don\u2019t know how to tell you\u2026I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t tell you sooner.\u201d In the same message, she outlined some of the incidents she was subjected to.<\/p>\n
The young girl was subsequently interviewed by specialist Garda investigators and detailed a number of incidents, which occurred when she would come home from school.<\/p>\n
The man would bring over some items of the grandmother\u2019s clothes, while he also put on the young girl\u2019s clothing, the court heard.<\/p>\n
She told gardai how the offending would make her feel \u201cuncomfortable\u201d and recalled how Quinn would change into different clothing, which she described as \u201canything he could get his hands on that wasn\u2019t for men\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a moving victim impact statement, which was read to the court by Garda McBride, the complainant, who was present in court, said she is a victim of child grooming.<\/p>\n
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