![\"Central](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6_Central-Criminal-Court-Dublin-exterior-stock-generic.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe offending started in October 2012 when O’Neill was aged 17<\/p>\n
Central Criminal Court Dublin<\/p>\n
A woman who was orally raped when she was a child has said she refuses to \u201cremain silent\u201d any more about the abuse.<\/p>\n
Noel O’Neill (30) was convicted after a trial at the Central Criminal Court <\/a>of three counts of raping the child when she aged between six and 12 years old by putting his penis into her mouth.<\/p>\n The offending started in October 2012 when O’Neill was aged 17. He was over 18 when he raped her a second time and the final offence took place in October 2018 when he was aged 22.<\/p>\n O’Neill, of Castlekeely Lawn, Daingean, Co Offaly had pleaded not guilty to the three offences, which were committed at his former family home in Edenderry, Co Offaly. He was found guilty of the three offences after a trial in January.<\/p>\n In her victim impact statement, the victim, now aged 19, told the court <\/a>that she was waiving her anonymity so that O’Neill, who was her step-uncle, could be identified.<\/p>\n \u201cI refuse to remain silent anymore,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n At a sentence hearing on Monday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon noted the impact of the abuse on the victim, including a diagnosis of PTSD and set a headline sentence of 11 years.<\/p>\n She reduced it by one year to take into consideration mitigating factors including the absence of significant previous convictions, and that the fact that O’Neill was acting as \u201cthe sole provider\u201d to his family.<\/p>\n She suspended the final year on various conditions including that O\u2019Neill keep the peace for the entirety of that period.<\/p>\n She ordered that he be registered as a sex offender. O\u2019Neill has not acknowledged the verdict of the jury and has never offered any apology, the court <\/a>heard.<\/p>\n In her statement, read into court <\/a>by prosecuting counsel Fionnuala O’Sullivan SC, the woman said that what O’Neill did took her innocence away and lived on in her mind every day.<\/p>\n She said his refusal to own up to what he did \u201cbroke me even further\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe court process traumatised me. Being forced to relive the worst moments of my life; it felt like being abused again.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt small and vulnerable,\u201d she said. She said there were times that she felt that \u201cending my life would be easier\u201d than going on with the trial.<\/p>\n She said the abuse changed who she was, and she struggles every day with its effects.<\/p>\n \u201cThe damage isn’t visible, but it is constant. I feel empty, mentally the scars will never fade.<\/p>\n \u201cI struggle every day, I can barely leave my bed. I am scared of relationships, I am scared of the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Garda Tara Corrigan told the court <\/a>that the victim first disclosed the sexual assaults in 2021 to her mother, who was married to O’Neill\u2019s older brother.<\/p>\n The court heard that O’Neill would get the victim to play a game called \u201cguess the finger\u201d where he would put a hat on her head and over her eyes and tell her he was going to put his fingers in her mouth.<\/p>\n O’Neill would initially put fingers into her mouth but at some point, he would place his penis into her mouth. On the last occasion in 2018, the victim was able to see through the material of the hat and saw what O’Neill was doing.<\/p>\n The Irish Mirror’s Crime Writers Michael O’Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up<\/a> and get it delivered to your inbox every week<\/p>\n Ms O’Sullivan told the court that the victim’s evidence was that these games took place \u201cevery second Sunday for a few years\u201d. During the trial O’Neill gave evidence before the jury during which he denied the allegations.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_OTOOLE-HEALY.jpg\")
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