A 75 YEAR OLD Dublin grandfather described by his own counsel as a "pathetic little man" has been jailed for eight years by the Central Criminal Court for the sexual abuse of both his daughter and granddaughter.
The defendant's daughter, now aged 38, told Mr Justice Carney that her father had ruined her marriage and her relationship with her 15 year old daughter because of his abuse.
The defendant admitted a total of five charges which the court heard were representative of years of abuse.
The man admitted two charges of raping his daughter, once in 1971 and again in 1975-6, and a charge of indecently assaulting her on a date in 1965-6.
He also admitted two charges of indecently assaulting his granddaughter in the 1980s and sexually assaulting her in the early 1990s.
The court was told that in 1965 he was jailed for six months by the district court for indecently assaulting a female. On June 23rd, 1993, he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually abusing neighbours' children. He served a year of that sentence before he was released.
A female garda told Mr Paul O'Higgins SC (with Mr Hugo Hynes), prosecuting, that the woman had run away from home on a number of occasions due to the abuse. Once when she was 12 she was plied with drink by bus men and raped in a flat.
On earlier occasions she slept rough in St Stephen's Green or Ballsbridge. She gave birth to a child when she was 13.
The court heard that between the ages of 14 and 18 she was only allowed to go out with boys on condition she had sex with the defendant twice a week.
Earlier, in an emotional and tearful address from the witness box, the defendant's daughter said she was still terrified of her father. He had never suffered, she said.
"He was supposed to be a father to me and love me. Why did he do this? I would just have it be, but what he did to (her daughter's name) is terrible. I don't know whether she will have a normal life. What's going to happen to her?" she continued.
"This has ruined my relationship with my daughter. We used to be great friends, but now we act like strangers. We will never be mother and daughter again. I feel my marriage is gone. I never told my husband all about what he (defendant) used to do," she added.
The abuse of the defendant's granddaughter took place when the little girl and her siblings were left with the defendant on some Saturday nights.
Other assaults took place when he met her after school and tried to win her over with sweets and money. They would go up to the top of a double decker bus and he would feel her under her skirt or make her feel him.
On one occasion he took her down a lane way and told her to take off her trousers before taking off his own. When he moved towards her, she kicked him on the thigh and told him to ... off".
The next time he confronted her on the street in 1995, she complained to a friend's mother and gardai were called.
Mr Gregory Murphy SC (with Mr Michael O'Shea), defending, said that to describe his client as a "pathetic little man" was putting it mildly.
The Executive had already "usurped" the sentencing function of the court by releasing him after he had served only a year of his earlier four year sex assault sentence, Mr Murphy added.
Mr Justice Carney said that in the defendant's favour, he was taking account of his age, the Supreme Court rulings that a life sentence should not be imposed after a guilty plea, and the statement of Mrs Justice Susan Denham that sentences were not about retaliation or revenge.
But factors against the defendant included his previous sex assault convictions, the fact that a number of the sex assaults had taken place in public areas and buses, and the horrific aspect of blackmail involved in the rape of his daughter.