"Monster" Groomer Jailed For Seven Years

A 59 year old man has convicted of prolonged sexual abuse of his partner's daughters.

A man branded "a monster" after conviction for the prolonged sexual abuse of his partner's two young daughters amid threats to kill their mother in Co. Westmeath has been jailed for seven years.

The sustained abuse happened regularly between 2006 and 2010, and the victims, now in their 20s, recalled him as a "shadow in the doorway" who started grooming them with so-called games described by Judge Kenneth Connolly as "sinister" and "normalising conduct that was not normal".

The 59-year-old had denied seven charges of sexual assault, five relating to one girl then aged nine to 12 and two related to her younger sister, who was five to eight years old at the time of the abuse.

However, a jury at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court found him guilty on all charges.

He is not being named to respect the complainants' right to anonymity.

Judge Connolly said that as a child, the older sister had been afraid to tell in case "it burst the bubble of harmony, unity and normality in the family life".

She had also thought it would prevent the accused, then in his early 40s, from abusing her younger daughter; however, the court heard he also targeted her.

Their mother, who had not known about the abuse of her daughters during her relationship with the accused.

The judge heard evidence from Detective Garda Kevin Mead that the abuse started with games where the girls were asked to tell him the colour of their underwear, or pulling down their clothes and spanking.

Judge Connolly recognised how the man became more confident and escalated the abuse to vaginal touching with his fingers, and sometimes digital penetration, often as they were in bed, and grinding his erect penis against them.

He had also warned the older girl it would be easy to kill her mother as she slept.

The judge emphasised that it was an egregious breach of trust by a man who became part of their household and was in loco parentis.

The girls were significantly vulnerable as their mother had suffered from depression and mental health issues arising out of her relationship with the girls' father, and she was doing her best to cope.

The man also had children from a previous relationship.

The older sister once asked the accused if he did this to his daughters, but he told her "no" and that she was special, the court heard.

Recalling his stale cigarette smell and his deodorant or certain songs played in the background during one incident remains nauseating for her.

Judge Connolly said that the accused, who also had a daughter the same age, yet he was unable to comprehend the harm he was doing.

The judge then listened to moving victim impact statements.

The elder sister detailed how she has been left with overwhelming fear, pain, and trauma, which she lives with daily.

"I grieve for the little girl I was and the childhood that I never got to have", she said, adding that in her adolescence years, she struggled to feel normal, processing what happened to her in silence, and unable to talk to anyone, isolating her further.

She spoke out about feeling shame and dirty as a young adult because of his actions, and even now feels ashamed.

"At the age when children are excited to have their parent figures come into their room and and read them stories, and make them feel safe from the monsters under their bed, my monster was very real, he was the shadow that would appear in the doorway and I would barely breathe in hopes that my monster would not attack my innocence any more. Unfortunately, that was not the case," she stated.

Memories could be triggered at any time, sending her back to that time, she said, stressing that no amount of justice would equal the trauma he caused.

She said he had branded himself into her as a painful scar she could never remove.

"I took comfort from knowing what happened was under the belief that if it happened to me, I could protect my little sister from what he was doing. But unfortunately, I was naive, and he shattered that comfort once again, causing an even deeper wound that I could not protect her."

Her younger sister revealed how she had been left suffering from chronic depression, panic attacks and severe anxiety.

The accused was always in the back of her mind while she pictured what he had done to her.

Opening up about her decision to come forward, she said, "It's for the little innocent girl who loved playing with dolls and roller-skating up and down the carpet. She was hurt by your actions, and you scarred her brain. I have nightmares about you most nights."

"You are a parasite", she said as he showed no reaction, and she added that it was revealing how none of his family came to court for him.

"I am no longer scared of you," she told him, adding, "I am not a victim, I'm a survivor".

Passing sentence, Judge Connolly noted his chronic health problems, good work history, lack of prior convictions, and that he had not come to further attention.

A probation report placed him at low risk of reoffending generally but moderate risk of sexual offending.

He said there had to be consecutive jail terms.

He set a headline total sentence of 14 years but reduced it to nine years due to mitigating factors and suspended the final two on condition he did not reoffend for five years.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register and told he must not have unsolicited contact with the victims.

The accused, who does not accept the jury's verdict, spoke only to confirm that he understood the sentence order by saying yes.