A 60-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison for sexually abusing his stepdaughter 10 times between the ages of 6 and 13, most of the time while she was asleep, reports RTE.
Noel Foran, of Birchview Close, Tallaght, Kilnamanagh, Dublin, pleaded guilty just before he was due to appear in court earlier this year.
The abuse took place between 1991 and 1998 and was first reported to the Gardaà 21 years ago.
His victim, Irene Cullen, now 37, said she only became aware of the full extent of the abuse after Foran was found guilty in May.
In her victim impact statement, she said her innocent childhood was stolen from her.
Gardaà Aisling O’Connor told prosecutors Diana Stewart that Mrs Cullen only remembers one incident of abuse on New Year’s Eve 1996 when she was 11 years old, reports RTE.
Foran entered her bedroom while her mother was at a party, took off her pyjama bottoms, and attempted to sexually assault her.
She resisted while faking sleep and remembers never speaking of.
He returned to her bedroom four more times, stopping only when her mother came home.
Ms Cullen said she did not understand what was going on but knew it was wrong.
She told her mother and her mother believed her and was very upset. She later told her daughter that Foran had admitted what he had done and that it would not happen again.
At the age of 16, he moved in with his grandfather and never returned home.
In 2002, Mrs. Cullen’s mother reported the abuse to the police on the advice of social workers, but no statement was collected from Irene.
Foran said he and his wife did not get along at the time of the attack and claimed he needed “comfort and affection”, reports RTE.
Irene reported the abuse to the police in 2017.
Ms Cullen told the court that what happened had profoundly affected her mental health.
“My close friends and family tell me I am strong and brave,” she said, “but I do not feel that way. I feel like this is a life path I have been forced to walk, and at some stages to crawl. I would not wish this journey on my worst enemy,” reports RTE.
Judge Orla Crowe said it was an unusual case.
The judge said that Foran had been sentenced to prison for a very serious breach of trust related to the repeated sexual abuse of her sleeping stepdaughter in her own home and in her own bed.
He imposed an 18-month sentence for both charges, but said he would carry out the sentences consecutively in light of the seriousness of the case, meaning Foran was sentenced to three years in prison, reports RTE.
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