Dad who blamed 'the Devil' admits to sexual abuse of daughter

Sunday World

11-07-2025

The accused, who is in his 50s, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his daughter from October 2007 to March 2008, September 2010 to March 2011 and March to September 2016.
A father told his young daughter, "It is the work of the Devil," after he began sexually abusing her at the age of nine, which continued until she was 17 and kicked out of her family.
At Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court, and now in her 20s, the woman came forward and delivered a moving victim impact statement.
Opening up about being wracked with feelings of guilt and shame from a young age, she firmly told her father "that was over now" and "that little girl finally knows that it was not her fault".
The accused, who is in his 50s, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his daughter from October 2007 to March 2008, September 2010 to March 2011 and March to September 2016. Sentencing was adjourned until November.
He is not being named to protect the victim's right to anonymity.
Divisional Protective Service Unit Detective Garda Olivia Kelly told the court that it occurred in their family home and began while the child's mother was away.
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The court heard he touched and put his finger in her vagina as he "whispered in her ear", while he had an erection, but he never got her to touch him, and he did not penetrate her with his penis.
After the first incident, and before her mother returned, he brought her for a walk and told her, "We need to stop what we were doing; they were wrong, it was the work of the Devil, and the Devil was trying to get into the family, and it needs to stop".
It continued, and in the rest of the incidents, he got the girl to lie on top of him and gave her a head-to-toe "body rub" with lotion.
He told her not to talk about it, and she kept quiet for years until she confided in her boyfriend after the abuse had stopped.
When the child's mother returned, there were more incidents where he was groping her.
Her mother also got the accused to give the girl the "sex talk", and he took out his genitals to show her, but she ran out of the room.
The court heard her mother was devastated when she found out, crying, angry, and she wanted to confront her husband.
A sibling recorded their conversation when they spoke to him about the girl's allegations, and he initially denied it had happened, but then admitted it was true.
He left, but she took him back and said he would have to get help for the family, and she blamed the Devil.
Still a teenager, she was kicked out of the family home, and one of her siblings told gardaí that the complainant was treated awfully.
When gardaí questioned him, he apologised and said, "But I never robbed her of her virginity or anything. I had a bad thing in my life, it was a bad time in my life. I asked God to take it away, it was only showering and rubbing cream on the body, just holding close."
In a later interview session, he made some admissions to touching her breast and vagina areas when she was aged 9 – 11 and during a later period of abuse, it was happening once or twice a month, but he did not regard it as molesting, "just touching".
In her victim impact statement, the woman also spoke about feeling like the black sheep of the family and a troublemaker, but she was a little girl trying to make sense of it, while her mother believed she made it up. The last words from her mother on the matter were that she forgave the victim.
She felt she had lost her parents, whom she had loved, but she told her father in court, "Love is not a free pass and protecting others is more important than staying silent."
Judge Keenan Johnson praised her for her bravery and truthfulness.
After she made a complaint, triggering the Garda investigation, Tusla became involved with the family.
Her father, a foreign national who was described as now living a lonely life, did not address the court and remains on bail.
A psychiatric report on the accused, who apologised via his barrister, was requested for the sentence hearing.