A 27-year-old man once asked his niece to take part in a pornographic video while sexually abusing her over a six-year period, Cork Circuit Criminal heard yesterday.
The single man, from Co Cork, began abusing the girl in 1983 when she was seven after she made her First Communion and came to live with his parents, her grandparents.
The man abused her regularly in her bedroom and in a wood near their home.
He made her take off her clothes and would then pull down his trousers and lie on top of her.
Initially, the girl was so young that she consented, but as she got older she refused, and he used force. In time she began avoiding situations where he could make sexual overtures to her.
The abuse continued until 1989 when she was 14.
Her father confronted the man and he admitted the abuse and immediately apologised. He later admitted the abuse when questioned by gardai.
Yesterday he was jailed for three years concurrent after he pleaded guilty to two charges of indecently assaulting the girl between 1983 and 1989.
The man, who cannot be named to protect his victim's identity, was 14 when he began abusing his niece but continued abusing her until he was 20.
His barrister, Mr Joe Ward, pointed out that his client had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, saving his victim the trauma of a trial.
He had also been sacked from his job and had had to move to the city when it became known locally he had abused his niece.
He was also willing to pay compensation if it would help the girl.
Judge Carroll Moran said a probation report showed the man lacked any empathy for his victim and had a distorted view of proper sexual behaviour.
He accepted the man began the abuse when he was young but he continued to an age when he should have been able to appreciate the gravity of what he was doing.
The judge accepted the man had pleaded guilty and had no previous convictions but said he also had to take account of the impact of the abuse on his victim.
While it did not involve any penetrative act, it had severely traumatised the girl and aggravated other problems. It could adversely affect her for the rest of her life, he noted.
Judge Moran said he had no alternative but to jail the man for three years and he recommended he receive whatever treatment was available in jail for sex offenders.