Man jailed for abusing five year-old niece
A man who sexually abused his five-year-old niece has been jailed for three years.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim pleaded guilty to seven charges of indecent assault and six charges of gross indecency between September 1, 1985 and June 20, 1995.
Derry Crown Court heard that the victim, who is now in her thirties, reported the abuse to police in March 2011.
Her first memory of the sexual abuse was an incident which occurred when she was nine and her uncle was around 19
She was in her uncle’s bedroom, lying on his bed and he was watching a pornographic film.
The court heard he began to touch her under her clothes and made her perform a sexual act on him.
It was revealed the man had a box of sweets in the room and gave them to his niece when the abuse ended. The man also went into his niece’s bedroom when she was sleeping and touched her in a sexual manner before making her perform a sexual act on him.
The abuse stopped when the girl was 14 and her uncle came into her bedroom. She told him to get out and leave her alone and he never touched her again.
Judge Piers Grant said it was apparent the defendant “engaged in this kind of behaviour on a fairly frequent basis” over the ten year period.
He said the “breach of trust” was an aggravating factor in the case.
“You were her significantly older uncle, she was living in the same house and this put you in a dominant position over her. It put you in a position to abuse her”, the judge added. He said the man had also engaged in “grooming conduct” and “induced her by the use of sweets after these acts were performed”.
The judge said the victim has been “tortured and in considerable turmoil as a result of what occurred to her” and is only beginning to come to terms with it.
Judge Grant accepted the man had shown genuine remorse for what he had done, however said the abuse was an “extremely serious form of offending and a custodial sentence must be imposed”. Jailing him for three years, the judge also imposed a probation order for three years which requires the defendant to complete a community sex offenders programme. He must also sign the sex offenders register for an indefinite period and is banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.
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Saturday 25 May 2013
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