A WEST Belfast man sat impassively in the dock yesterday as he was jailed for 12 years for raping his two nieces 22 years ago.
The 52 year old man, who can not be named for legal reasons, was also given concurrent two year terms on six charges of indecently assaulting the girls during the summer of 1974 when they were aged seven and nine.
During the trial at Belfast Crown Court the jury heard the offences were committed while the defendant was baby sitting the children in their own home, where he was staying.
The victims, now mothers themselves, gave graphic details of how they had been raped and indecently assaulted by their uncle.
The court heard the younger sister only broke her silence last year when she discovered her uncle was again baby sitting other children in the family. Last week the jury took just 16 minutes to find the defendant, a father of five, guilty of all charges.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Shiel told the defendant he had been placed in a position of trust, a trust which he had betrayed in a horrific manner to satisfy his own lust.