'I feel I will never be happy again' - Teenager jailed for rape and attempted rape of younger siblings

Sentencing the man today, Mr Justice Michael White noted that while the man was a child at the time of the offending, he was now being sentenced as an adult.

Mr Justice White said the offence was aggravated by the nature of the abuse and the sustained period of time over which it occurred. He said the man's age at the time of the offending was a major factor that had to be taken into consideration.

He sentenced the man to seven years' imprisonment, but suspended the final two-and-a-half years on strict conditions.

A victim impact statement written by the boy's father on his behalf outlined the anguish suffered by family members once the abuse was disclosed. His father wrote that the boy used to get extremely angry after coming home from his older brother's house and would refuse to have a bath, saying: “I'm not dirty”.

“As soon as I found out what happened to our little boy, I thought of that,” he wrote, adding it was difficult to think of the “torment he was suffering”.

The boy, now aged 16, has struggled in school and has difficulty sleeping since the abuse. He is extremely angry and has made several suicide attempts.

The father expressed gratitude to a number of specialists who have helped the boy to come to terms with what happened to him and he said they are hopeful they are “nearing the end of these terrible years”.

“We try to explain that what happened won't affect his future and his own adventures are yet to come,” the father wrote.

The girl, now aged 13, wrote her own victim impact statement in which she said:

Sometimes I feel I will never be happy again.

She said she is “petrified” of her half-brother coming back to hurt her. “It makes me sick,” she said, adding: “I know my daddy will always keep me safe.”

She finished her statement saying: “I'm sorry this letter isn't longer but it's hard to talk about.”

The 19-year-old Co. Clare man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, sexually abused his younger siblings between November 2014 and May 2015, when he was 14 years old. The boy and girl were aged 11 and eight at the time.

The man pleaded guilty to six sample charges of orally raping his half-brother between November 2014 and January 2015 at an address in Co. Clare. He also pleaded guilty to one count of defiling the boy by anally raping him between March 2015 and May 2015 at an address in the Midlands.

He further pleaded guilty to one count of defiling a child by attempting to anally rape his half-sister on a date in January 2015 in Co. Clare.

A local detective garda told Desmond Dockery SC, prosecuting, that gardaí were alerted to the allegations in September 2015.

The court heard the abuse occurred when the younger children were visiting their mother and half-brother at weekends.

The boy said the abuse started when he was in bed and everyone else was asleep. He said his older brother would come in and make him touch him in his private area before orally raping him.

After a few months, this progressed to rape. The accused told his little brother he would not see his mother again if he told anyone.

The boy told gardaí the abuse made him feel “angry and upset”. He got physically sick on one occasion.

The girl told gardaí that her half-brother got into bed beside her on one occasion and repeatedly tried to penetrate her. She pushed him away and said she felt “unsafe and scared” in the aftermath.

James Dwyer SC, defending, said his client had an unstable childhood, moved home frequently and started taking drugs from a young age. He has “not insignificant cognitive difficulties” the court heard.

He has eight previous convictions including for possession of a knife in 2017 and three road traffic offences.