Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man (50) used a camera hidden inside a clock to take videos of his step-daughter in the shower which he then sent to another man.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to sexual assault at his then address on an unknown date between September 1st, 2014 and December 31st, 2014.
The man, who has no previous convictions, also pleaded guilty to distributing and producing child pornography.
Donegal
A local garda told the prosecution that in 2016 a search warrant was executed at an address in Donegal where a man living there said the accused had sent him videos of his step-daughter, who was aged 13 or 14 at the time.
Gardaí then search the accused’s house where two devices were seized containing a total of 96 videos and 82 images of child pornography.
Gardaí also discovered messages sent between the accused and the man in Donegal.
The victim told gardaí that on a night when her mother was not in the house, the man told her to come into his bedroom where he began rubbing aloe vera on her eczema and told her if she wore her bra too much it could hurt her.
She took off her bra because she was scared and he asked if she wanted a massage and proceeded to rub her breasts and her bum.
In her victim impact statement, which she read before the court, the victim said that her anxiety got worse with the news that the man had pleaded guilty, adding that she sees him occasionally and instantly gets a panic attack.
The victim said that the man made her feel “worthless, dirty and a liar” and that she was “trapped in the hell house”.
She said she was terrified of the man and never wanted to be alone with him, adding that no one should ever feel the pain she had.
The girl said she still has bouts of depression and has been left with a life sentence after the assault, during which the man told her not to tell anyone because he would get in trouble.
The garda agreed with the defending counsel that no images of the victim were found on the man’s devices and that he had admitted to secretly filming the victim and sending the recordings to the man in Donegal.
The defence said the man has “genuine shame” for what he has done.
Judge Elma Sheahan said the man had experience of living with and raising small children and therefore when watching child pornography he was “fully cognisant of the helplessness” of those he watched.
The judge said that the placing of a video camera inside a clock to film the victim for his own sexual gratification “has to be viewed as a continuation of the sexual abuse” of the victim and that going to such lengths made him highly culpable.
The man was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment, with the final nine months suspended on strict conditions, including that he undergo two years of supervision by the Probation Service following his release from custody.
