Declan Brennan

The victim of a child rapist told the court how a Mayo man subjected him to 12 years of sexual and mental torture, while the accused’s daughter, who he also raped, described how her father had ruined her life.
The man, still a resident of Mayo, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 20 counts of oral and anal rape of the boy between August 1997 and April 2008. He also pleaded guilty to eleven counts of raping his daughter. These attacks began in mid-2007 and continued periodically for two years.
The man cannot be identified to protect the identity of the victims. The court heard that rumors in the local rural community had resulted in him being completely ostracized and he appeared in court without any support.
After hearing the facts of the case, Judge Tony Hunt adjourned sentencing until December to give the defense time to obtain a medical report.

Toilet
The court heard the first victim had a fractured family life. The defendant, a friend of the boy’s stepfather, took the then 10-year-old boy under his wing and told him how “special he was.”
In his victim impact report, the man, now 31, said this meant a lot to him as a child as he had no other father figure in his life. He said he had no idea about the man’s true motives and said the accused was very cunning and devious in his preparation.
The first oral rape attack took place during a fishing trip in remote Mayo. The victim said that at that moment he felt numb, sick, scared, lonely and alone.
The rapes, including anal rape, continued twice a week, until the victim was 20 years old. In her teens, the victim moved in with her abuser because her family life had become too cruel and neglectful, with no food in the house or clothes on her back.
The court heard he felt he had no choice but to move in with the defendant and had convinced himself the abuse would end.
At the age of 20, the man said he still felt like a scared ten-year-old and like a “beaten dog.”
“He made me believe that I was worthless and that he was the only one who cared about me,” she said. She was 22 when the abuse stopped, 12 years after it began.

Terrified
The man’s daughter was 14 years old when he raped her for the first time. He had accused her of lying to him and had taken her for a walk on a golf course.
When they reached some sand dunes, he told her: “I’m going to fuck you for lying.” He then told her to get on the ground and raped her. The woman later told investigators she was terrified.
The rapes continued weekly and became “like a routine” for her. The court heard the man had complete physical and mental control over his daughter, dictating who she could meet or speak to.
The man would only have to say that he was “feeling stressed” for the victim to know that he was going to rape her. In her victim impact report, the woman said she was very afraid of her father.
She said her father would threaten her and once told her he would kill her. She was too afraid to go to sleep because she would suffer night terrors and dream about the abuse.
He said he used to self-harm to deal with the effects of the abuse and then turned to alcohol and drugs. She said she was terrified of getting counseling, didn’t want to relive the abuse and didn’t think it would help.
“I don’t care about my life. “I want to die most days, I feel so broken inside,” she said.
He said he “can’t stand” men and believed there was something inside every man that made him capable of rape. He said he “freaks out” at the prospect of having sex in a relationship.
The male victim said he felt nothing but hate and disgust for his abuser and also for himself for not speaking out. She said the man was a “manipulative pedophile” who had stolen her self-esteem and her “very being.”
“The damage this animal has inflicted on my mental health will last until my last breath. “I don’t know who I am,” he said.
She said she struggled with suicide and left her own children with a father “incapable of compassion.”
After his arrest, the man initially claimed he was in a relationship with the male victim. The court found this to be false and the man accepted to gardaí that nothing he did could be justified or correct. He said he was grateful the victims had come forward because he couldn’t live with the guilt.
“I’m sorry. I feel total hatred for myself,” he said. He also stated that he himself was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.
Judge Hunt said that even with all the help in the world, the man’s action had changed the course of his victims’ lives “for the worse”. But he said he had escaped a life sentence by pleading guilty to the offences. He then adjourned sentencing until December.