Courts

Man sentenced to 12 months for sexually assaulting granddaughter while babysitting

Defence counsel says accused (70s) now ‘isolated socially from his family and that is his own fault’

Judge Sarah Berkeley said the man’s culpability was high and the offences were aggravated by factors including the significant breach of trust and the disparity in age. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Claire Henry
Fiona Ferguson
Tue Nov 14 2023 - 14:12

A man has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for sexually assaulting his granddaughter seven years ago.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man, now in his mid-70s, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault which took place in a house in Dublin on December 27, 2016. The accused, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the complainant, has no previous convictions.

Passing sentence, Judge Sarah Berkeley noted a victim impact statement prepared by the victim’s mother in which she outlined the devastating effect the offences had on her daughter.

Judge Berkeley said the man’s culpability was high and the offences were aggravated by factors including the significant breach of trust and the disparity in age. She said there was no such thing as child sexual abuse that was insignificant in the court’s view, but this offence fell at the lower end of the spectrum for such offending.

READ MORE

The judge set a headline sentence of two years before taking into account mitigating factors such as the man’s early guilty plea, remorse and the devasting effect his crimes had on his social and family life.

Judge Berkeley sentenced the man to 18 months’ imprisonment and suspended the final six months.

Det Garda David Egan told Aoife McNickle BL, prosecuting, that on the night of December 29th, 2016, the accused was babysitting his granddaughter and her cousin. The then 10-year-old called her mother and she returned home immediately. Gardaí were alerted and the girl spoke to specialist interviewers.

Det Garda Egan said the girl said she was upstairs playing with her cousin. At one stage, both children went downstairs and she noted that her grandfather had been drinking and described him as “kind of drunk”.

The girl told gardaí that he later came upstairs while both children were playing. The accused lay down beside his granddaughter and put his head on her chest. She told gardaí that he touched her “in her private area”.

The girl said she could not get up as the accused was half lying on her and that her cousin’s view was blocked as she was looking at a laptop. The said she girl asked to “get up and get something to eat” and the accused replied ‘ah yeah, in a minute’.

The court heard that the girl got up and her grandfather gave her cousin a hug. The cousin left the room and the girl said her grandfather kissed her with an open mouth, placing his hand on the back of her head so she could not move.

She said he then whispered ‘this is our little secret’ and told her not to ‘tell anyone’.

The accused was arrested in November 2017 and interviewed. He denied the sexual assault allegations.

Det Garda Egan agreed with Maurice Coffey SC, defending, that the girl’s mother confronted the accused (her father) the day after the assault. She said she asked him why her daughter would have said this and he replied ‘I wouldn’t do that’. She then asked him if her daughter was lying, and he said ‘no’.

Mr Coffey said there has been a “complete breakdown in the family relationship” and his client is “isolated socially from his family, and that is his own fault”.

LATEST STORIES