A MAN has been sentenced to a total of four years at Portlaoise Circuit Court yesterday for sexual assaults on his son and daughter, who agreed that he should be named.
Arthur Nicholls (51), Tierhogar, Portarlington, Co Laois, had pleaded guilty last May to the assaults on his son in 1993 and 1994, and twice on his daughter, between December 1990 and January 1994.
The court heard that the girl was assaulted at the age of 11 and at an older age, and the boy at 12.
William Fennelly, prosecuting, said that the Garda investigation began in July 2007, following complaints. The daughter had described two incidents.
One happened in her parents’ bed while the second incident was in her bedroom.
The assault on Nicholls’s son took place on a night he was babysitting his brother. The next day, Nicholls took the boy for a drive and attributed his behaviour to drinking whiskey.
The court also heard how the son and daughter went through serious drink and drug problems as a result of what happened.
Nicholls said he accepted what he did was wrong.
Both siblings spoke of how the abuse had affected their relationships with their partners, but they were now resolving that. Nicholls spoke of how he was himself abused by a Christian Brother and a teenage cousin.
Regarding his abuse of his own children, he said: “I couldn’t believe I did it,” and he accepted he was more to blame because it had happened to himself.
Barry Finlay, defending, said his client had accepted responsibility for his behaviour.
Nicholls was ordered to be placed on the register of sex offenders.