A man who sexually abused his nieces in various locations in Kerry and Cork has been jailed for 18 years.
Sentencing the Cork man today, Mr Justice Tony Hunt described him as a 'voracious sexual predator' who masqueraded as a 'kindly uncle'.
Mr Justice Hunt said the man might not survive the sentence given his advanced age.
The judge said the sentence might be regarded as harsh but noted the offending took place over the course of a decade and involved children.
The 72-year-old Cork man, who can’t be named to protect the identity of his victims, was jailed for 18 years.
The man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 16 sample counts of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault over the course of a decade.
The court heard the abuse took place between 1985 and 1995, at various locations in Kerry and Cork.
The three victims are all nieces of the man, and were aged seven or eight when the abuse began and it continued into their teenage years.
In a previous sentence hearing, two of the man's nieces read their victim impact statements to the court.
Both women said the man had destroyed their childhoods.
The judge set a headline sentence of 25 years, which he reduced to 20 years, noting the man is now 72-years-old, and that a higher sentence may have a crushing effect on him.
He suspended a further two years of this sentence, and added should the man be released, he must undergo two years of post-release supervision.
