A DUBLIN GRANDFATHER who regularly molested his young daughter and later his granddaughter over many years of their childhood has had his seven-year sentence cut on appeal. 

The 81-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to six sample counts of indecent and sexual assault.

There were 18 counts on the indictment, which themselves were sample counts of the abuse inflicted over a six-year period during the 1970s and over four years in the late 1990s.

The man had adopted his daughter, who is now aged 61, when she was four years old.

She was indecently assaulted by her father between 1972 and 1978, when she was aged between eight and 14. 

In a victim impact report, she said her father was supposed to protect and care for her, but instead he attacked and verbally abused her. “The abuse happened all the time, I can’t remember it not happening, it was at least a couple of times a week,” said the woman.

The man’s granddaughter, now aged 22, was sexually assaulted between 1997 and 2001, when she was aged between four and eight years old.

The abuse came to light when she sought counselling in 2013 and later told her mother that she had been abused. The girl’s father became extremely irate and challenged the accused, who admitted to the offences.

He also admitted having indecently assaulted his own daughter some 30 years previously.

The accused then disclosed his offences to a local priest during confession, who informed him that the allegations were outside the remit of the sacrament and would have to be reported to the gardaí. The man then went voluntarily to a garda station and said he wanted to make a confession.

He was given a total seven-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 2015. However, this was cut to five-and-a-half years yesterday by the Court of Appeal.