A convicted rapist currently serving a prison sentence for the rape of his former partner’s daughter has pleaded guilty to also raping his first victim’s younger sister.
The 61-year old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, will be sentenced next month for one count of rape that happened at the victim’s home in Galway.
He pleaded guilty to one count of rape that took place at an unknown date between 1989 and 1991.
According to the Irish Independent the victim, now a 39 years old woman, was sexually abused by many of the men in her family.
The Central Criminal Court heard that she was also abused by her grandfather, uncle, and father, who was convicted of getting raping her as a young girl, when he got her pregnant.
She gave the child up for adoption when he was four years old, something the court heard still distresses her.
A local Garda detective told the court that the woman, who currently lives in England, decided that she wasn’t strong enough to come to court or make a victim impact statement.
The detective told the prosecutor that the family were known to social workers while the victim was young, citing “neglect and abuse”.
The accused man moved into the house in 1988 and had an eight year relationship with the mother, who had a history of alcohol abuse.
The victim said he raped her in her bedroom when she between 10 and 12 years old.
Afterwards she found that she was bleeding and in incredible pain and went to her mother, who brought her to a doctor after checking her over.
According to the woman, the doctor asked her mother if she had a boyfriend, and she told the she did not.
Shortly afterwards they went back home, and the man didn’t abuse her again.
In 2015 he was handed a 12 year sentence for raping this victim’s older sister when she was between 11 and 15 years old.
Gardaí arrested him for this crime two years later, while he was in prison, and he admitted to it completely.
In the years since she was attacked, the detective told the court, the woman has struggled with depression and anxiety to this day, blaming herself for her rape.
The defence noted, and the detective agreed that the victim and her sisters often went hungry, and that the accused provided food for them.
Mr Justice Michael White will sentence the accused on November 13 after considering the particulars of the case.
