A Kildare man who sexually abused his son and daughter has received a three-year suspended sentence from Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The 37-year-old originally pleaded guilty in October, 1998 to six counts of sexual assault between December 31st, 1993 and April 1st, 1996 but later sought to change his plea to not guilty.
Judge O'Donnell refused this application. Sgt Martin Smith told the court the accused used to take baths with his son and daughter during which he would feel their private parts and get them to feel his.
Judge O'Donnell said victim impact reports showed the now 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter were both seriously affected by the assaults and initially had a lot of animosity towards him.
However, he had since received letters from both saying they would like to see their father again and pleading with him not to jail him. The reports also disclosed that the victims suffered after witnessing domestic violence perpetrated by their father on his wife. Judge O'Donnell said the reason for the sexual assaults probably lay in the fact that a family friend sexually assaulted the man himself over a seven-year period when he was a boy. The judge added that the reports from psychologist Dr Peter Fahy indicated he was unlikely to reoffend but that he needed constant psychological monitoring.