A man, who was aged 13 when he began sexually abusing his younger adopted sister for a six-year period, has been jailed for six years.
In an attempt to justify the abuse, Colm Doyle (60) told his sister it was not wrong because they were not biological siblings. He also claimed to her that a Catholic priest had told him to practise sex on his sister.
He began molesting the girl in their family home in Dublin when she was around ten-years-old or younger. For the next six years he repeatedly molested her and went on to rape her.
Doyle, of Heather Drive, Marley Wood, Rathfarnham, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to around 28 counts of indecent assault and rape of the girl at two separate Rathfarnham addresses on dates between 1974-1979 inclusive. The counts are sample counts from an indictment of 103 charges.
Doyle has no previous convictions.
Anonymity
At a sentence hearing on Monday, Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, told the court the victim, Doreen Stamp, wished to waive her anonymity.
Passing sentence, Justice Tony Hunt said he fully accepts Ms Stamp's description that the offending has had a huge impact on her life, including being ostracised by certain family members since coming forward about the abuse.
Justice Hunt said the case was aggravated by the offending taking place over a protracted period of years and becoming graver over time, the young age of the victim, the effects of the crimes on the victim and that Doyle was an older sibling who was entrusted with her supervision.
The judge said a psychological report before the court stated Doyle has suffered memory loss regarding the offending and noted an understanding on his part of the effect of the abuse on the victim. He noted Doyle has been assessed as being at a low risk of reoffending.
Judge Hunt set a headline sentence of 15 years imprisonment, stating the defendant was entitled to a 33 per cent reduction due to his youth at the time of the offending and a further 40 per cent reduction due to having pleaded guilty. As a result, Doyle was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
At a previous sentencing hearing, Mr Cooney told the court the siblings both suffered from extreme violence at the hands of their adopted mother who suffered from bipolar syndrome which went unmedicated.
He should have been there as my friend, my hero, my protector.
Reading her own victim impact statement in court, Ms Stamp said Doyle should have been there to protect her from the physical, mental and verbal violence of her mother.
“He should have been there as my friend, my hero, my protector” but instead, she said, he used her for his own gratification and to satisfy his sexual curiosity.
“I was a thing, I was an object. He took what he wanted,” she said, adding that her strongest memory of the abuse is having her brother hold her hands above her head as he molested and raped her.
He would also force her to read out sexually explicit passages from books.
Ms Stamp said she was a survivor of child rape, but that those six years were an “unspeakable hell” for her and the damage caused by the abuse will “never end until the day I die”.
She said her father and siblings have not stood by her since she has come forward, adding that they seemed to view her speaking out about as a worse crime than the abuse.
Justice Hunt noted that, given the defendant has “put his hands up” and expressed remorse, “perhaps it's time for others to take their cue from that”.
Ms Stamp said, as a child, she could not tell anyone in the house about the abuse because of the atmosphere of fear and strictness. After her mother died, she began to process the abuse and went to counselling, she added.
She wrote to her brother who replied by text that he had blocked everything out and “it was a huge shock to him”. He told her he was very sorry for what he did and asked her to give him “one last Christmas” with his wife and son before going to gardaí.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800 77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
