Community service for man who admitted child cruelty to daughter in Donegal

A man who admitted a charge of child cruelty against his young daughter in County Donegal has been ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

The man, who is in his 40s and cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the girl, was sentenced at Cavan Circuit Court.

The young girl had told Letterkenny Circuit Court last month that she is “fighting for the little girl in me” and recalled how she had been “forced to grow up faster than any child should.”

The charge faced by the accused was a composite one relating to a number of incidents and occurred from just before her fourth birthday until she was five-and-a-half.

Following lengthy proceedings in the District Court, the children were taken into full-time care. Certain disclosures were made in foster care and the girl was interviewed by specialised Gardai in 2019.

The man and his wife - the girl’s mother - went on trial in early 2024 and it ran almost to closing speeches when the jury was discharged after issues arose over the disclosure of files in the possession of Tusla. 

On the first day of a second trial, in late 2024, the man pleaded guilty to a single count of child cruelty on an amended indictment while the woman was found not guilty on 19 charges - 12 of sexual exploitation, six of sexually assaulting a child and one of child cruelty - following a 10-day trial.

The accused man pleaded guilty to a charge that he wilfully assaulted, ill-treated and exposed the child or allowed the said child to be assaulted, ill-treated or exposed in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health or seriously to affect her well being namely by slapping her, exposing her to excessive alcohol consumption and domestic violence.

At Cavan Circuit Court, where the man learned his fate, Judge John Aylmer said it was apparent, after hearing the victim impact statement from the now-teenage girl, that she is still feeling very hurt.

Judge Aylmer said that as a consequence of the man’s behaviour the child was put in care “and has suffered ever since”.

“That was a direct consequence of your severe alcoholism and drunkenness in front of her and physical violence to her,” Judge Aylmer said.

Judge Aylmer said it is clear that the girl misses the man as a father and deeply resents the fact that she was “robbed of a normal childhood under the loving care of her natural parents”.

“This is clearly a very serious offence,” Judge Aylmer said, but in comparing it to other child cruelty cases that go before the court he said this was “at the lower end of the scale” and merited a starting point of 18 months imprisonment before considering mitigation.

He noted that the man entered a guilty plea - albeit on the commencement of a second trial - and said the man was now being sentenced 10 years after the event.

“There is the phrase that justice delayed is justice denied and it is very relevant in the context of today where I am sentencing you for matters that occurred 10 years ago when you daughter was a very young child and is now and adolescent,” Judge Aylmer said, adding that the man made admissions of guilty, except for slapping the girl, when he was initially arrested. 

Judge Aylmer said that the man has taken “huge steps in self-rehabilitation” in dealing with both his addiction issues and mental health issues arising from his own traumatic upbringing.

The man was assessed and described as a low risk of reoffending. He added that the man has reconciled with his wife and is actively seeking to build his relationship with his daughter again. He said the man has abstained from alcohol since 2017 and said the defendant has displayed full victim empathy.

The sentence was reduced to one of 12 months imprisonment, which meant Judge Aylmer was statutorily bound to consider an alternative penalty community service. 

He said the case was one where community service was an “appropriate alternative” and ordered the man to 240 hours of community service in lieu of 12 months in prison.

The man must also keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 12 months, has to abstain completely from alcohol and go under the supervision of the Probation Service. He is to be assessed for the MOVE (Men Overcoming Violent Emotions) group work programme and, if he is deemed suitable, must complete the programme in its entirety.

Judge Aylmer said the man must keep attending psychotherapy until he is positively discharged. 

In an emotional victim impact statement, which she read out at Letterkenny Circuit Court, the young girl said: “I never chose to come forward about the crimes through hatred; I did it to save myself. I am not prepared to go through secondary school without closure.”

The girl said she could love her father, but also want justice and a sense of closure.

“I don’t want to look back and still feel that justice has not been served,” she said. “I have hatred towards his actions, but I don’t hate him as a person. I do hate how he failed to protect me.”

The complex disclosure in the case amounted to some 17,500 pages.

The court heard that the woman obtained a barring order against the man, but he was brought back to the family home in the boot of a car. The man admitted this to detectives and to putting blinds on the door so he would not be seen.

The young girl told Gardai that her father hit her on many occasions and, following his arrest, the man told detectives that his children were taken away due to the violence and drinking. 

Mr Colm Smyth SC, barrister for the defendant, had asked Judge Aylmer for a chance to continue on the road to rehabilitation.

“In terms of building the relationship with his daughter and eventually his other child, it is important that he continues on this path,” Mr Smyth said. “That would be seriously disrupted by a period of incarceration.”

The prosecution in the case was led by Ms Patricia McLaughlin SC, with Ms Fiona Crawford BL, instructed by State Solicitor for Donegal, Mr Kieran Dillon. The accused man was represented by Mr Smyth, with Mr Ciaran Elders BL, instructed by solicitor Mr Frank Dorrian.