Louisburgh man raped and abused stepdaughter

A former soldier has been given a 12-year jail term for the rape and abuse of his stepdaughter. The girl was aged around six when the man, Thomas Mullarney (61) of Cahir, Louisburgh, first began abusing her. He continued to abuse her regularly for the next decade.
The prosecution indicated to the Central Criminal Court yesterday (Monday) that the victim wished to waive her right to anonymity so that her stepfather could be named.
Mullarney pleaded guilty to sexual assaults at a house in Dublin on dates between October 2003 and January 2005. He also admitted to raping his stepdaughter at a house in Co Mayo in 2011 and 2014.
The court heard that Mullarney would molest her while forcing her to watch adult porn. She was aged 13 when he eventually raped her, after giving her wine to drink. The next day he told her he was nervous about her getting pregnant, and he told her to take her mother’s contraceptive pills.
The court heard that in August 2014 the woman went to her stepfather after a row with her boyfriend. He gave her tea and half a sleeping tablet and she awoke later to find him raping her. She ‘freaked out’ and began crying, and he apologised for frightening her.
After she went to gardaí in 2017, Mullarney admitted the offending. He said he was abusing cocaine and alcohol at the time and didn’t remember all the alleged incidents.
Mary Rose Gearty SC, defending, said her client claimed he had been institutionalised by his treatment at industrial schools in Artane and Clonmel. She said he later received compensation for the abuse he suffered there, and that he had spent the money on alcohol and cocaine.
She said that a psychological assessment that places him at a high risk of recidivism is based on his social isolation and previous abuse of drink and drugs. The psychologist noted that while those who suffer abuse do not usually go on to abuse others, “it is a noted consequence in a minority of cases.”
Mr Justice Michael White said he found it difficult to understand how anyone who had undergone that horrific ordeal could visit it again on another child. He paid tribute to the courage of the injured party and said that the only person responsible for the abuse was the perpetrator.
Reading from her victim-impact statement, the victim told the court that the abuse was an aspect of everyday life during her childhood.
Mr Justice White noted the devastating effects of the abuse on the victim, who considered Mullarney to be her dad and described a special bond with him. The judge said the victim had loved her stepfather but hated what he was doing to her.
He said the court also had wider concerns in relation to the hallmark of making the victim special, which he said reflected a very serious type of ‘grooming’ on Mullarney’s part. He said the offences fell at the upper end of the scale of sexual abuse.
Mr Justice White noted that Mullarney had been a ‘soldier of distinction’ in the Irish Defence Forces and had a ‘tragic background’. He took into account Mullarney’s guilty plea, which he said was an important acknowledgement to his stepdaughter of the serious offending he had perpetrated on her for eleven years.
Mr Justice White imposed consecutive sentences totalling 14 years, suspending the final two years on strict conditions. He said Mullarney should be assessed for the Better Lives treatment programme and remain under probation supervision for the suspended portion of the sentence.