A man has pleaded guilty to the sexual assault and sexual exploitation of his step-daughter at Tralee Circuit Court.
The man had gone on trial on 28 counts of sexual assault and 24 counts of sexual exploitation of his step-daughter over a five-year period, but changed his plea during the trial.
The man still can not be named in order to protect the anonymity of the abuse survivor, who was in court to hear the man plead guilty.
A jury of seven men and five women had been sworn in on Tuesday for the trial at Tralee Circuit Court, after the man pleaded not guilty to each of the 52 counts in the court on Tuesday morning.
Prosecuting barrister Tom Rice said it would be argued that the man had touched his step-daughter inappropriately when she was a child, and that he had invited her to engage in sexual acts with him, over a five-year period.
All of the offending took place in Kerry, the vast majority in the family home, all while the man’s step-daughter was under the age of 17.
Yesterday afternoon, in the absence of the jury, the man was arraigned again on nine sample counts of sexual assault and three sample counts of sexual exploitation, but this time pleaded guilty.
The jury were brought back into court, and Judge Ronan Munro told them there had been a surprising turn of events in that the man had changed his pleas to guilty.
He discharged them and told them they are exempt from jury service for seven years, having acknowledged that it was a very difficult case to hear due to the evidence.
Barrister Tom Rice told the court he sought for the man to be remanded in custody until his sentencing date.
The man was represented by Senior Counsel Seamus Roche, with barrister Richard Liston instructed by solicitor Brendan Ahern.
Mr Roche SC applied for the man to be remanded on bail, as he was not a flight risk and has family and responsibilities he wants to attend to before he goes into custody.
Judge Munro said the man clearly has a problem in that he attacked a child in a sexual way like that, and he must also consider the public in deciding on bail.
Judge Ronan Munro said a custodial sentence is inevitable and to do anything but remand him in custody straight away would be inappropriate.
Judge Munro said he would add the man’s name to the sex offenders register as of today, which he must do by law.
The man was remanded in custody to 3rd March for sentencing, when his step-daughter may choose to give a victim impact statement.
