A man from Wexford, Ireland, reportedly raped a girl and her younger sisters until she got pregnant at the age of 13. The man, 76, was sentenced to only 11 years behind bars.
The 76-year-old man has not been identified in order to protect the identity of the children. The then-13-year-old and her three younger sisters were said to be living in a home that was described by the judge who gave the sentence as a "horror house."
According to Irish Times, three of the children molested had developmental problems such as learning disabilities. This was considered as a grave aggravating factor by the judge who decided on the case.
Independent also reported that the mother of the children knew the man. She would be taking the man to their family home during weekends after fetching him from the elderly man's isolated rural home. The then-13-year-old reportedly first got abused in 2004. In 2006, the teacher of the then-13-year-old girl noticed that she was gaining weight so she suspected that the teen was pregnant.
The investigation then started and the first victim said that the man would rape her either in the home or outside in the field. The teen said that she hated the man and that the intercourse was both disgusting and sore.
The man reportedly threatened the teenager that he would hit her if she told anyone about the assault. At one point, the brother of the then-13-year-old reportedly observed the man while he was raping the victim.
Another victim was only six years old when the man, then 63, molested her. The other sister was sexually assaulted between the ages of seven and 11 and did not know what the word "sex" meant.
The elderly man was charged with 18 counts of each rape, oral rape, and sexual assault. A guilty plea was made and the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted one sample count of rape on the basis of full facts of the allegations being heard.
The judge handling the case, Justice Patrick McCarthy, said that they had to take the man's age into consideration as well as the guilty pleas thus the 11-year sentence. It is unclear when he will start serving his sentence.
