A man who preyed on a seven-year-old girl has been jailed for ten years and six months.
The 53-year-old Slovakian man was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of one count of rape and 12 counts of sexual assault.
The offences occurred between September , 2012, and September 2013, at a house in Co. Wexford.
The defendant was living at the same address as the girl’s father. The abuse occurred when the girl, now aged 17, visited the house at weekends.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, does not accept the jury’s verdict.
Imposing sentence today Ms Justice Karen O’Connor said the man had “preyed on a young child in a shameful manner”.
The girl’s victim impact statement was read to the court by the prosecuting counsel. The girl said the man’s offending had “ruined” her childhood and teenage years. She said she has suffered from anxiety, depression and self-harm.
The girl said she is scared of every man who crosses her path in the dark and that it will take many years for her to live her life to the fullest.
The girl said she was “scared to say anything to anyone in case things got worse” and that she stopped going to her father’s house as she was afraid. She said she didn’t give him an explanation at that time, and her father thought she didn’t want to see him, adding that he was “distraught” when he was told the real reason.
Ms Justice O’Connor said the girl had presented in court as a “person of great strength.” The judge said that by making the complaint and following it through, she would help other children who may be in a similar situation by showing them that they are not alone. She wished the victim well for the future.
The man denied any wrongdoing when he was interviewed following his arrest in December 2020. He has been in custody since July 2021, when he was charged. He has one previous conviction for murder from an Eastern European jurisdiction, dating back to 2001, for which he received a prison sentence. The gardaí were unable to confirm other details as the file had been destroyed, the court was told.
The investigating Garda agreed with Maurice Coffey SC, defending, that his client has no previous convictions of a sexual nature. He also accepted that the man moved to Ireland in 2012 and co-operated with this investigation.
Mr Coffey told the court that his instructions were that a man was stabbed during the course of a dispute, and his client served ten years of a 13-year prison sentence.
Counsel said his client served in the army and took part in peacekeeping missions. He has a good work history in Ireland and is doing well in custody and taking English lessons. Mr Coffey asked the court to take into consideration the difficulties of serving a prison sentence for a foreign national.
The court heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions places this offending in the more serious category and suggested a sentence of between ten and 15 years due to a number of factors, including the breach of trust and the age disparity between the man and the victim.
