A Dublin woman who was sexually abused by her stepfather 10 times when she was a young child in the 1990s has told a court her “innocence was stolen by the man she believed to be her father”.
Noel Foran (60) of Birchview Close, Kilnamanagh, Tallaght in Co Dublin has been jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to three sample counts of sexually assaulting Ms Irene Cullen at that address on dates between March 14th, 1991 and March 13th, 1998.
Ms Cullen, now aged 38, waived her anonymity in order to name her step-father at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The court heard Ms Cullen only remembered one specific incident of abuse on New Year’s Eve when she was aged 11.
But Foran told counsellors he had sexually assaulted his stepdaughter approximately 10 times, mostly while the child was asleep, when she was aged between six and 13 years’ old.
He initially took a trial date but pleaded guilty before his trial was scheduled earlier this year.
At a hearing last week, Ms Cullen read her victim impact statement aloud and said it was impossible to summarise the life-changing effects that the abuse continues to have on her life.
PTSD
She said she has been diagnosed with PTSD and other psychiatric disorders as a direct result of the trauma she suffered. Ms Cullen self-harmed with razor blades as a teenager and was first prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping tablets at the age of 16, the court heard.
“To this day my sleep is profoundly affected with night terrors, flashbacks, frequent waking and nightmares,” Ms Cullen said.
Ms Cullen said that she has had to spend over 500 days in St Patrick’s Hospital since she first made her statement to gardaí in 2017. “I now face the difficult road of trying to repair the unmeasurable damage to the broken child inside me,” she said.
Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Orla Crowe praised Ms Cullen’s courage in telling her mother about the abuse and later making a complaint to gardaí in 2017.
Judge Crowe said Foran had been in loco parentis when he sexually assaulted a small girl who was “so very vulnerable, so trusting and asleep in her bedroom”.
“Her bodily integrity was violated; her trust was violated; her childhood was stolen; her innocence was stolen,” said Judge Crowe, describing the abuse as a “fundamental breach of trust” by someone who had had the privilege of being a father figure.
The judge said the abuse has had a severe impact on Ms Cullen, who has nonetheless “done her very best to get on with her life”.
Judge Crowe acknowledged that in mitigation, Foran had no previous convictions and had not come to adverse garda attention since these offences. She said that Foran had a good work history and was remorseful.
Sex Offenders' Register
Foran (60) with an address at Esker Meadow Rise, Lucan, was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Garda Aisling O’Connor told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that Ms Cullen only remembered one instance of being sexually assaulted by Foran on New Year’s Eve 1996, when she was aged 11.
The court heard that when Foran was interviewed by gardaí in 2020, he told counsellors that the sexual assaults had taken place “about 10 times” and had started when his step-daughter was six years’ old.
Foran also told counsellors at the Granada Institute about the sexual assaults while he attended for counselling in 2004, the court heard.
Garda O’Connor said she did not know why the case had taken over two decades to come to court when gardaí had first been notified of the abuse in 2002.
She said Ms Cullen’s mother had reported the abuse to gardaí but had not made a statement of complaint.
The court heard that Ms Cullen told gardaí that she vividly remembered the night of New Year’s Eve 1996, when her mother went out to a neighbour’s party after putting her to bed.
Ms Cullen said she pretended to be asleep when Foran came into her bedroom at about 11 o’clock and opened his belt.
She said she was petrified and couldn’t move when Foran knelt on the end of her bed, took off her pyjama bottoms and tried to force his hand up her leg.
Ms Cullen said she didn’t know what her stepfather was doing but she knew it was wrong. She couldn’t sleep the rest of the night and Foran came back into the room at least four other times that night and tried to do the same thing, the court heard.
Ms Cullen said she told her mother what had happened some six weeks later, after a school Stay Safe programme which talked about telling people when something was wrong.
Ms Cullen said she was worried that she would be pregnant as she did not know how babies were made.
Her mother believed her and started crying and they rang Childline, the court heard.
A month later, Ms Cullen’s mother reassured her daughter that this wouldn’t happen again, but she would not let her daughter lock her bedroom door.
Victim impact statement
In her victim impact statement, Ms Cullen said she wanted to tell her grandfather about the abuse, but she was afraid that if she did so, he would kill Foran and go to prison.
“This belief kept me silent and trapped and alone,” she said.
The court heard that Ms Cullen was 16 when her grandmother died and it triggered the memory of the abuse, causing her to struggle in school and begin self-harming her arms with a razor “in complete despair”.
Ms Cullen remains overprotective of her own children and doesn’t allow them to go on play dates or sleepovers, the court heard.
She said although her close friends and family tell her she is “strong and brave”, she does not feel that way.
“I feel like this is a life path I have been forced to walk, sometimes to crawl. I would not wish this journey on my worst enemy,” Ms Cullen told the court.
Kieran Kelly BL, defending, told the court that Foran attended for counselling at the Granada Institute in 2004 and told counsellors he had started abusing his step-daughter from when she was aged six.
He said he would touch the child’s vagina over and under her clothing, mostly when she was asleep. Foran said it never progressed beyond touching and that he would masturbate.
Foran told counsellors at the time of the assaults himself and his wife, Ms Cullen’s mother, were not sexually active and that he “needed comfort and attention”.
Concerns were reported to various social workers and on foot of their advice, Foran left the family home while an assessment was carried out.
Mr Kelly read aloud the Granada Institute assessment which said Foran had cooperated with the investigation, acknowledged the abusive behaviour and demonstrated remorse.
The report also said Foran’s level of risk of reoffending was measured to be low.
Mr Kelly said that Foran moved back into the family home after the assessment was completed and that matters rested there until Ms Cullen made a complaint to gardaí in 2017.
The court heard that Foran initially took a trial date and considered a judicial review before pleading guilty.
Counsel said Foran has worked hard all his life initially with a paper round and a milk round at the age of 14, and subsequently for a home improvements company. He has not come to garda attention since these offences and was deeply apologetic, the court heard.
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.
