Child rapist gets 15 years after guilty plea
A man who systematically raped and sexually abused a young girl while she was aged between six and 12 years old has been given a 15-year prison sentence by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.
Anthony Daly (64), of Woodlands Road, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty last July to three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault on dates from 1998 to 2004.
There were 72 counts on the indictment. Judge White said the separated father-of-one had given his guilty pleas "at the 11th hour" after a jury had been sworn in for his trial, but he had nonetheless spared the victim the trauma of giving evidence.
The judge said he considered the gravity of the rapes to warrant a sentence of 15 years on each of the three counts, to run concurrently.
anger
He suspended the final three years due to the man's personal circumstances, including his deteriorating health.
He imposed a sentence of five years imprisonment on the count of sexual assault, also to run concurrently, and directed that his name be added to the register of sex offenders.
Prosecutor Pauline Walley told Judge White that the Director of Public Prosecutions considered this case to be at the upper end of the scale of child sex abuse in relation to the sentence.
A psychiatric report on the victim said she felt anger towards her abuser and described her as a vulnerable and naive girl who had trouble expressing how the abuse had affected her.
The report said she had feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression and difficulties establishing trusting relationships with boys.
- Fiona Ferguson
