A MAN WHO drugged his daughter and her friends during a sleepover before raping one of her friends during a purported game of hide and seek in the woods has been jailed for 15 years and six months.<\/p>\n
When the 47-year-old father\u2019s phone was seized by garda\u00ed, they found encrypted vault footage of him raping the same girl when she was passed out at a previous sleepover a week earlier, as well as child abuse images of her, his older daughter and two more of his daughters\u2019 teenage friends.<\/p>\n
The man pleaded guilty to eight sample counts at the Central Criminal Court pertaining to five victims \u2013 his two teenage daughters, his younger daughter\u2019s two friends and a friend of his older daughter.<\/p>\n
He admitted two counts of raping his younger daughter\u2019s 15-year-old friend and one count of sexually assaulting her, one count of child sexual exploitation by having sexual intercourse in front of another girl, one count of child cruelty by drugging the children and three counts of possessing child sexual abuse material or child pornography, as it is referred to in law.<\/p>\n
He has no previous convictions. The offences occurred on dates between June 2024 and July 2025 at the man\u2019s Leinster home.<\/p>\n
Imposing sentence today, Mr Justice Sean Gillane said the court\u2019s function was to impose sentence on behalf of the community and was \u201cnot an act of vengeance\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the court viewed the man\u2019s level of culpability as \u201cextremely high\u201d and that there were \u201ca number of sadly habitual features\u201d in this case which often come before the court in similar cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cBreach of trust in my view does not do justice to what happened here and risks becoming something of empty incantation,\u201d the judge said, describing the man\u2019s actions as an \u201corchestrated betrayal\u201d of trust and relationships, which rippled out from his children and former partner to his children\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n
The judge said this was not casual, and that the man was manipulative and methodical in his offending, \u201ctargeting the friendships his children had innocently developed\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the \u201cdeliberate and calculated\u201d recording and storage of the first rape was also aggravating, along with the man\u2019s \u201ccomplete lack of remorse\u201d in the immediate aftermath of the second rape and \u201cappalling remarks he made\u201d.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that the court had \u201cno forensic explanation\u201d for the cause of the man\u2019s offending or his interest in children.<\/p>\n
Having considered the mitigation, the judge imposed a global sentence of 17 years, with the final 18 months suspended for five years on strict conditions which include probation supervision.\n<\/p>\n
Offending<\/p>\n
A local inspector detective told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, prosecuting, that the man invited his teenage daughter\u2019s friend on a sleepover in July 2025 after liaising with her mother.<\/p>\n
Another friend joined them, and the man plied all three girls with vodka drinks. He gave them pills he said were Motilium to stop them getting sick, but which toxicology tests later found were in fact sleeping pills and muscle relaxants.<\/p>\n
Video footage taken from the girls\u2019 phones showed them becoming increasingly intoxicated, to the point where they were incoherent and having trouble staying upright, the court heard.<\/p>\n
The footage showed the man bringing them on various walks to the nearby woods in the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n
After putting his daughter to bed, he persuaded the victim to walk once more to the woods with him. The girl would not go without the third friend, and when the trio arrived in the woods, the man suggested they play hide and seek, and the third friend should hide.<\/p>\n
He then proceeded to rape the victim, causing her extreme pain. During this, the man told the victim \u201cNot to worry\u201d, and her friend would be next.<\/p>\n
Part of the rape was captured on the phone of the third girl, who inadvertently videoed part of the incident when she came upon them.<\/p>\n
Both girls then fled from the man and hid in the woods, but eventually returned to the house out of fear for their friend\u2019s welfare \u2013 the man\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
The third friend left the following morning, but the victim stayed another night and was again given alcohol and tablets by the man.<\/p>\n
He apologised to her at one point for his behaviour the previous night, saying he had \u201cfelt bad about it all day\u201d. She was scared of him and said it was okay.<\/p>\n
After she called a male friend on Snapchat and told him what had happened, this teenage boy urged her to leave the house and tell an adult what had happened, arranging to meet her with a taxi at a nearby pub.<\/p>\n
The man overheard part of this conversation and confronted the child, telling her she had \u201casked for it\u201d, that she would ruin his life and he would lose everything.<\/p>\n
Garda investigation<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed were alerted after the girl returned home and she was taken to a sexual assault treatment unit (SATU).<\/p>\n
When garda\u00ed went to the man\u2019s home and seized his phone, they found an encrypted vault with 827 child abuse images and 71 videos, including two of his daughter\u2019s friends \u2013 one of whom was the rape victim \u2013 and his older teenage daughter.<\/p>\n
They also found images and videos of him raping the same 15-year-old girl as she lay passed out beside his younger daughter at a sleepover. This had occurred the week before the incident in the woods, and the child had no memory of this rape.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed found 18 images of him in the act of raping the child as she lay in what appeared to be a state of unconsciousness beside his younger teenage daughter, as well as separate images of him indecently exposing her.<\/p>\n
They also found 17 images of the younger daughter\u2019s friend \u2013 the third child who was present at the sleepover and hid in the woods with the rape victim. She was asleep on a couch in the photo with her breasts exposed.<\/p>\n
They also found images of the man\u2019s oldest daughter\u2019s friend who had holidayed with the family the year previously. The images focused on the girl in her underwear. She was 15 at the time.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed further found images of the man\u2019s oldest daughter, which appeared to have been taken furtively as she dried herself after a shower. There were other photos of her sunbathing in her swimwear and playing football on a beach which focused on her bottom half.<\/p>\n
The mothers of the four girls were all shown sanitised versions of these photographs by garda\u00ed and identified their daughters.<\/p>\n
In his comments, Mr Justice Gillane said it was a \u201cdistressing feature\u201d of the case that the parents of the girls had to identify them in these sanitised images.<\/p>\n
He also said the court was satisfied that the material found in the encrypted vault was deliberately put there for the purpose of future access.<\/p>\n
Victim impact statements<\/p>\n
Four of the five victims made victim impact statements. They are the man\u2019s oldest daughter, the rape victim and the two friends who were photographed. His youngest daughter declined to make a victim impact statement. Neither daughter was in court but were represented by their mother \u2013 the man\u2019s former partner.<\/p>\n
The other three girls remained outside for the duration of the prosecution evidence, but were each brought into court by support workers when their victim impact statements were being read. The man cried in the dock as they were read out.<\/p>\n
His oldest daughter said that when the allegations were first made against her dad, she didn\u2019t believe them and stood by him, which led to her losing friendships and being bullied and threatened. She said she now feels \u201cheartbroken and devastated\u201d at what he has done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still trying to come to terms with what happened,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything feels very different now. The last year has had a deep and lasting impact on me. I am struggling every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rape victim said she suffers from anxiety and PTSD since the assaults, is afraid to take medicine and afraid to sleep at night. \u201cI wake up to nightmares,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026I used to love hugs and affection from family and friends. I now panic and freeze up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third friend who was also drugged at the sleepover and had photos taken of her said she lost her best friend \u2013 the man\u2019s younger daughter \u2013 as a result of his actions. She said she thinks about what she could have done differently to help her friends that night.<\/p>\n
The older daughter\u2019s friend who was photographed by the man on holidays said she has become anxious, uncomfortable and self-conscious since his offending came to light. She said her relationship with the man\u2019s daughter broke down and \u201closing such a friendship has been extremely upsetting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has affected the way I view and trust people, particularly men,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Someone like him is trusted\u2019<\/p>\n
In his plea of mitigation, Michael Bowman SC, defending, said the man wanted to apologise unreservedly for the \u201cirreparable and unconscionable harm he has caused\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has had catastrophic consequences for his relationship with his wife and with his children,\u201d he said. The court heard the man had separated from his wife prior to his offending and he was drinking to excess at the time and taking drugs.<\/p>\n
He has a good work history and has no criminal history, defence counsel said, leading Mr Justice Gillane to note that \u201csomeone like him is trusted and that\u2019s how the offending behaviour takes place\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Bowman said the man is open to doing any rehabilitation courses that are available to him.<\/p>\n
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Gillane said the court couldn\u2019t accept the defence\u2019s submission that the breakdown of the man\u2019s relationship, coupled with alcohol and other \u201csad\u201d events \u201cgo any way to explain what happened\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the guilty plea was valuable and that the man\u2019s work history and lack of previous convictions were also mitigating factors. The judge said the man \u201cnow at least had expressed remorse\u201d.<\/p>\n
The judge said the court observed that one difficulty in this case was that the defendant\u2019s ability to appear conscientious, trustworthy and hardworking was one of the ways his offending could take place.<\/p>\n
The man made no reaction as the sentence was imposed, and he entered his bond.<\/p>\n
Mr Justice Gillane noted the presence in court of some of the girls\u2019 parents. He said they were also victims in the \u201ctrue broad sense\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne can only imagine the torture they have put themselves through,\u201d the judge said, noting they must have questioned themselves many times.<\/p>\n
He said the court hoped that \u201ctoday offers some finality\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A MAN WHO drugged his daughter and her friends during a sleepover before raping one of her friends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,65264,11603,27,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,1186,49143,7,8],"class_list":["post-612923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-central-criminal-court","tag-court","tag-courts","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-none","tag-rape","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117013052661333684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}