Man who repeatedly raped niece to be sentenced

A man who repeatedly raped his niece told gardaí he “only likes kids with white skin”, a court has heard.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to counts of rape, oral rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child on dates between November 1st, 2018 and January 15th, 2019.

A local garda told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, that the eight-year-old victim was the niece of the accused man and that all but one of the offences occurred in his home while he and his wife were looking after her and her siblings.

The local garda said that in January of this year, the child told her mother that she and her uncle had a “pinky promise every Tuesday” and that sometimes when he winked at her she had to go upstairs with him.

The child told her mother that her uncle did something to her but that she did not like it and it was “gross”. She said that he kissed her “private thing down there” and that he tried to put his “private part” to her “thing” but that it was sore so she told him to stop.

During interview with gardaí, the man admitted that he did “have sexual feelings towards her”. He went on to say that “she has nice white skin”.

“When she grows up she is going to be a very nice lady,” he told gardaí­.

At the beginning of his fourth interview with gardaí­, the man said he wished to tell the truth. The man admitted he had raped the child on four occasions.

He told gardaí­ that if he had not been caught he might have stopped or continued the abuse. He said he “only likes children with white skin”.

The man has no previous convictions. A letter was read out on his behalf in court in which he said he apologised unreservedly for his crimes and he now put himself “at the mercy of this court and prays for God’s forgiveness”.

The father of the victim declined to make a victim impact statement as the family does not wish to relive the events, but said he wanted it known that he and his wife struggled to trust anyone after trusting the man to take care of their children.

The local garda agreed with Desmond Dockery SC, defending, that the charges of oral rape stemmed from admissions the man made to gardaí­. He agreed that same was also true of the charge of sexual exploitation, as the man described how “for all intents and purposes he groomed her”.

Mr Dockery said the offences, “repeated and grotesque that they were”, occurred over “a relatively limited period” of time. He said his client was not “an inherently evil man” and had been in custody since voluntarily attending a garda station on January 18th, last.

Mr Justice Michael White remanded the man in custody and adjourned the matter for sentencing to October 14th, next.