A man who was 13 when he first raped his nine-year-old cousin after playing a video game involving picking up prostitutes has been jailed for eight years, reports Breaking News.
The now 27-year-old Cork man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the now 23-year-old woman, was convicted in April last year following a trial at the Central Criminal Court.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape in the summer of 2010 and the summer of 2016 at their grandmother’s house in Cork.
Victim Impact Statement
Local police read the victim’s statement, during which the woman stated that she “lived every day of my life fighting a war with myself”.
She said she doubts anyone who tells her they love her because she believes they “had an ulterior motive” because she had “trauma caused by a member of my own family”.
“Why didn’t you protect me? Why would anyone steal my innocence and ultimately my life from me?” the woman asked before she added that he had “the audacity” to plead not guilty and “drag me through this legal process”, reports Breaking News.
She said it affected her school and relationships, and she lost countless friends due to self-loathing and self-destruction.
“Every day as an adult I have to console a little child inside me. I will never give up. I am strong, unlike you who took advantage of me. I will never get back the life you took from me. I will spend the rest of my life dealing with the effects of these rapes,” reports Breaking News.
“I don’t know tomorrow if I will wake up and abandon this life entirely,” the woman ended the statement by saying that her life will now be easier knowing that she won’t see the man around.
She praised gardaí for helping her.
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