A man who subjected his younger brother to “sadistic” beatings over a number of years when he was a child, including hitting him with a nail-studded baton, has been given a five-year jail term.
The 38-year-old man, who can't be named to protect the identity of his brother, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to seven counts of assault causing harm to the boy at the family home in Dublin on dates between March 2001 and March 2006.
The man was aged between 16 and 21 at the time of the offences, while his younger brother was aged between 11 and 16.
Darts at feet
Detective Garda David Jennings told Paul Carroll SC, prosecuting, that the older brother regularly hit the boy with a baton that was studded with nails, threw darts at his feet and subjected him to continual beatings over the five-year period.
“Throughout this period of time, (the man) would carry out these beatings and hidings, often for no reason whatsoever,” Mr Carroll said. The victim was “terrified” of his older brother and lived in a state of constant fear, the court heard.
The older brother also told the boy to engage in criminal activity, such as robbing things, under threat of being beaten if he did not carry out the crimes, the court heard.
The abuse ended in 2006 when the younger brother moved in with his grandfather. The court heard the family was unstable, with an alcoholic mother and an absent father, who also had a history of violence.
The man initially faced trial in 2021 and was convicted by a jury of orally raping his brother, as well as the assault charges. These convictions were successfully appealed and the man again stood trial earlier this year.
During the trial, the oral rape charges were withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the man entered guilty pleas to the seven assault counts. He has 138 previous convictions and is currently serving a five-year sentence for assaulting another brother in the family.
Fear
In a victim impact statement read out by counsel, the victim said his childhood was taken away from him by his older brother and that he is still in fear of him. The abuse ruined his life and the pain will never go away, he said.
He said he turned to alcohol and drugs as a way of coping with the pain, but is now on the road to recovery with the help of his family.
The man's previous convictions include burglary, assault, criminal damage and drug offences.
Kathleen Leader SC, defending, said her client left school early and took on a position of authority in the house in the wake of his father's absence and mother's alcohol issues. She said he was also physically abused at the hands of his father, although the court heard other family members disputed the extent of this violence.
Ms Leader said her client had poly-substance abuse issues, including heroin, and that he had not led a pro-social life.
The court heard the man has been in custody since February 2020 in relation to the convictions pertaining to his other brother, and Ms Leader urged Ms Justice Melanie Greally not to lengthen his sentence beyond this.
Sentencing him on Monday, Ms Justice Greally said the violence meted out by the man to his younger brother was “sadistic” and involved “particular brutality”. She noted the youth and vulnerability of the victim, the breach of trust involved and the instruments used to inflict physical injuries.
She said the abuse had a “profoundly damaging and lasting effect” on the younger brother. “There's no doubt it affected his personal development at a sensitive stage of his development,” she said.
Taking into account mitigating factors, including the guilty pleas, the judge handed down a five year sentence. She backdated it to when the man first went into custody in February 2020.
