The victims were between the ages of 9 and 19 when the abuse began.
A Dublin man who sexually abused four of his nieces over a 12-year period has been jailed for three years.
The abuse took place in the 55-year-old man’s family home between 1991 and 2003.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, engaged in “persistent, nasty and insidious” abuse against his four nieces, who were between the ages of 9 and 19 when the abuse began.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that he abused one victim as she babysat his children and abused another while she was in the same room as his sleeping daughter.
The man pleaded guilty to a total of 22 counts of sexual assault committed on dates between December 1, 1991 and December 18, 2003, according to reports.
In victim impact statements, the victims said he was a “textbook groomer” and a “predator” who committed “despicable crimes”.
They also spoke of being haunted by feelings of shame, guilt and disgust over what had happened to them, and said that they would have to live with the pain for the rest of their lives.
One of the victims said she had waited five long years to be able to share what happened in a courtroom after first reporting the abuse in 2016. She said all of the victims had been prepared to be cross-examined, but at the last minute the accused pleaded guilty.
She added that it was very upsetting knowing he might get rewarded for his guilty plea.
Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Pauline Codd said the abuse lasted for a “considerable duration” and involved a “considerable breach of trust” and praised the victims for their “dignity and courage”.
She said that while the man’s crimes were “morally deplorable”, the court must acknowledge they did not feature the most egregious aspects as defined by law at the time they were committed. She said that at that time, the maximum sentence for sexual assault was five years imprisonment.
Judge Codd explained that mitigating factors in the case included the man’s guilty plea, previous good character, personal circumstances, solid work history along with testimonials and character references submitted on his behalf.
She said despite his guilty pleas, the man lacked insight and sought to minimise his offences. Deterrence and rehabilitation must thereby feature in this sentence, she said.
She sentenced him to six months imprisonment for his crimes against the first victim and four months imprisonment for the second, which are to run concurrently to each other.
She then sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment for the third victim and two-and-a-half years imprisonment for the fourth. These sentences were ordered to run consecutively to each other and to the previous two sentences.
Judge Codd then suspended the final year of the sentences on strict conditions, including the man not having any contact with the victims and not having unsupervised access to children.
