A Kerry man will be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court next month for the repeated rape of his wife’s niece 30 years ago.
The 61-year-old man pleaded guilty to four sample charges from a total of 13 charges of raping the girl on dates between 1990 and 1994. The now 41-year-old woman made a report to gardaí in 2019 outlining her aunt’s husband raped her on a number of occasions, which first started when she was aged nine.
She used to regularly visit the couple in their family home and often slept in the same bed as them; once her aunt got up in the morning the man would rape her. Prosecuting SC Desmond Dockery told Mr Justice Alex Owens the man was 30 at the time of the offences, while the victim was between nine and 13-years-old.
The man was arrested in May 2019 and admitted to gardaí that he “had a cuddle” with the girl and later said “yeah I had sex with her”. He said he didn’t know what age the girl was at the time but admitted she was in school; he said he didn’t know if she in primary or secondary school at that time.
The offending ended when she started a part-time job aged 13 and stopped staying in her aunt’s home. Mr Dockery read the woman’s statement into the record which stated every day is a struggle, she often feels suicidal and suffers nightmares.
Mr Justice Owens revoked the man’s bail and remanded him in custody after remarking a custodial sentence was “inevitable”; he adjourned sentencing until November 22nd.
