36-year-old jailed for sexual assault of niece

By Claire Henry

A man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting his niece has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the now 36-year-old man, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, was convicted of one count of sexual assault on a date between September 2017 and September 2019. He has no previous convictions.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Pauline Codd said the defendant was the maternal uncle of the injured party, who was aged between thirteen and fourteen at the time of the offence.

Judge Codd said the court must have regard to the adverse effects on the injured party.

The judge said the aggravating factor in this case was that the injured party was the defendant’s niece. She said she would consider the following as mitigating factors: his lack of previous convictions, his employment record, his background and the support he has given to his sister and that she still supports him.

Judge Codd sentenced him to two years in prison. Defence Counsel asked the court to consider suspending part of the two-year sentence, which she refused.

In this case, the injured party now uses the pronouns he/him, but she was a thirteen to fourteen-year-old female at the time of the offence.

A local garda told Eilis Brennan SC, prosecuting, that gardaí became involved in an investigation when they were contacted by TUSLA. The gardaí went to the injured party’s home, and at first, she did not want to make a statement but later did so.

The court heard that the injured party, her mother and brother, lived together, and when their uncle came to Ireland, he moved in with them.

On the day in question, the injured party was asleep on the couch when she woke up and felt something touching her hand. She opened her eyes and saw her uncle who moved away and zipped up his pants while saying “sorry.”

The garda said the injured party went into her brother’s room and cried. Their mother was not home at the time, but they told her when she arrived back at the house. The defendant went voluntarily to the gardaí for an interview and said, “Two and a half years ago, I made a mistake, and she saw me masturbating. I thought she was asleep, but when she turned around and saw me, I jumped up and so did she.”

A victim impact statement was handed into the court but not read aloud.

The garda agreed with Ciaran O’Loughlin, SC, defending, that his client moved in with his sister when he came to Ireland and has been employed since then.

Mr O’Loughlin handed letters into the court, one of which was from his sister, the mother of the injured party, which asked the court not to send her brother to jail.

He asked the court to consider a suspended sentence.