A 55-year old Tipperary man, who sexually abused his stepdaughters over a 10-year period from when they were both aged nine, has been jailed for eight years with the final 18 months suspended.

Despite his admissions of guilt to gardai, and his subsequent conviction tonight at Nenagh Circuit Court, John Joe Patterson's wife Francis, who is also the girls mother, has stood by her husband.

Emma and Vanessa Witherow waived their right to anonymity so that Patterson, who ran a Christmas hamper delivery business, could be named in the media.

Speaking outside the court after the sentence was imposed, the two sisters praised the Gardai for believing them, despite their mother's continued refusal to do so: