The Criminal Courts of Justice building in Dublin. (Image: Getty Images.)
A man who drugged his daughter and her friends during a sleepover before raping one of her friends during a purported game of hide and seek in the woods has been jailed for 15 years and six months. The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to eight sample counts at the Central Criminal Court pertaining to five victims – his two teenage daughters, his younger daughter’s two friends and a friend of his older girl.
He admitted two counts of raping his younger daughter’s 15-year-old friend and one count of sexually assaulting her, one count of child sexual exploitation by having sexual intercourse in front of another girl, one count of child cruelty by drugging the children and three counts of possessing child pornography, as it is referred to in law.
He has no previous convictions. The offences occurred on dates between June 2024 and July 2025 at the man’s Leinster home.
An inspector detective told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, prosecuting, that the man invited his teenage daughter’s friend on a sleepover in July 2025 after liaising with her mother.
Another friend joined them, and the man plied all three girls with vodka drinks. He gave them pills he said were Motilium to stop them getting sick, but which toxicology tests later found were in fact sleeping pills and muscle relaxants.
Mr Justice Sean Gillane said: “Breach of trust in my view does not do justice to what happened here and risks becoming something of empty incantation.” He also added the “deliberate and calculated” recording and storage of the first rape was also aggravating, along with the man’s “complete lack of remorse” in the immediate aftermath of the second rape and “appalling remarks he made”.
The judge imposed a global sentence of 17 years, with the final 18 months suspended for five years on strict conditions which include probation supervision.
After putting his daughter to bed, he persuaded the victim to walk once more to the woods with him. The girl would not go without the third friend, and when the trio arrived in the woods, the man suggested they play hide and seek, and the third friend should hide.
He then proceeded to rape the victim, causing her extreme pain. Part of the rape was captured on the phone of the third girl, who inadvertently videoed part of the incident when she came upon them. The victim called a male friend on Snapchat and told him what had happened, this teenage boy urged her to leave the house and tell an adult what had happened.
Gardaí (Irish police) were alerted after the girl returned home and she was taken to a sexual assault treatment unit (SATU).
When Gardaí went to the man’s home and seized his phone, they found an encrypted vault with 827 child abuse images and 71 videos, including two of his daughter’s friends – one of whom was the rape victim – and his older teenage daughter.
The rape victim said she suffers from anxiety and PTSD since the assaults, is afraid to take medicine and afraid to sleep at night. “I wake up to nightmares,” she said. “…I used to love hugs and affection from family and friends. I now panic and freeze up.”
The older daughter’s friend who was photographed by the man on holidays said she has become anxious, uncomfortable and self-conscious since his offending came to light. She said her relationship with the man’s daughter broke down and “losing such a friendship has been extremely upsetting”. “It has affected the way I view and trust people, particularly men,” she said.
Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Gillane said the court couldn’t accept the defence’s submission that the breakdown of the man’s relationship, coupled with alcohol and other “sad” events “go any way to explain what happened”.
He said the guilty plea was valuable and that the man’s work history and lack of previous convictions were also mitigating factors. The judge said the man “now at least had expressed remorse”.
Mr Justice Gillane noted the presence in court of some of the girls’ parents. He said they were also victims in the “true broad sense”.
“One can only imagine the torture they have put themselves through,” the judge said, noting they must have questioned themselves many times. He said the court hoped that “today offers some finality”.