A man who raped his son nine times at their family home in Waterford has been jailed for 14 years.

The 66-year-old, who can’t be named to protect his son’s identity, was also sentenced today for locking him in a wooden cage-like box.

The boy’s mother will be sentenced next week for child cruelty.

Judge Robert Eager said it was hard to imagine how these appalling acts of sexual abuse have affected the boy, who’s now 13.

The abuse began in 2009 when he was 6 and continued right up until he was taken into care when he was just shy of his 8th birthday.

The years of sexual abuse he’d suffered at the hands of his father emerged sometime later when he confided in his foster mother.  During a seven week trial earlier this year, the boy spent ten days giving evidence through a live video link from the UK – where he now lives in a specialised facility.

He was moved there because his foster mother couldn’t cope with his highly sexualised behaviour and the court heard there are no facilities for him here in Ireland. In his Victim Impact Statement, the boy compared his father to Adolf Hitler and described him as a “horrible and cruel” man.

He said words hadn’t been invented for what he did to him and that he hoped to one day ask him why he’d taken his childhood away.  In arriving at a sentence of 15 years with the final 12 months suspended, Judge Eager said the damage done was the most aggravating factor.

He said he’d also taken into consideration the lack of remorse shown by the 66-year-old and noted his lack of previous convictions for sexual offences as the only thing that worked in his favour.

In relation to the cruelty conviction, he said he wasn’t satisfied it was restricted to him being locked in a wooden box for several hours because the boy had given evidence of being pushed around, thrashed and kicked.
The boy’s mother will be sentenced for child cruelty next week.