Man who repeatedly sexually abused his niece jailed

The offences spanned between June 2022 and December 2024 when the victim was 13

A man who repeatedly sexually abused his niece over a two-year period was jailed on Wednesday for two years.

Judge Neil Rafferty KC directed the defendant spend a further two years on supervised licence on his release from prison, Belfast Crown Court heard.

The 32-year-old, of no fixed abode and who can’t be named to protect the identity of his victim, had pleaded guilty in March this year to what a judge described as a “catalogue of sexual offending”.

The defendant pleaded guilty to a total of 22 offences which included six counts of committing a sex act with a family member, an adult inciting a child to engage in sex and sexual activity with a family member.

He further admitted four counts of sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent and prohibitive images of a child.

The offences spanned between June 2022 and December 2024 when the victim was 13.

It was the prosecution case that on December 2, 2024, police received an anonymous report alleging that the victim had been sexually assaulted by an adult male, who was her cousin, on a regular basis.

Police went to her home and she told officers that she had been sexually assaulted by her cousin.

The court heard that the language used in the sexual communications was “crass and vulgar”.

The defendant was arrested and his phone was examined and a number of indecent images were found. He made no comment to all police questions.

In March 2025, he was re-interviewed and made full admissions to all offences. He said he was going through a “tough time and simply wanted to be loved”.

Defence barrister Stephen Toal KC said the case was resolved at the defendant’s first arraignment six months ago.

“Admissions were made during his police interview and he has never sought to take advantage of what is clearly a vulnerable child and never tried to string out the proceedings or challenge her credibility in any way,” Mr Toal told the sentencing hearing.

“There has been no attempt to diminish the seriousness of the offending. He recognises the harm he has caused to his victim, to her family and his own family who have now disowned him.”

Mr Toal said the pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board outlined the “severe emotional and social deprivation” suffered by the defendant.

“He is an unsophisticated person who essentially lived the life of a hermit. He has no friends, he has no previous relationships.

“He had a pretty sad and lonely life. He is 32 now and he has no previous convictions. He has no employment history. He has no support network. He now has no family.

“And he is now left with basically nothing. He has attempted suicide in more than one occasion, including after his arrest in this case.”

Mr Toal told the court the defendant has been in custody since March of this year and has received “no visitors”.

He added: “He is entirely estranged from every person that he knew before he went into custody.

“He is not assessed as posing a significant risk of serious harm. This offending has been isolated. When this offending happened, he lost control and couldn’t get it back.

“One can see in the pre-sentence report that he is struggling to understand why he kept this going for such a long period of time.”

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Rafferty said the complainant had decided not to furnish the court with a victim impact statement about how the abuse had affected her life.

Said Judge Rafferty: “That is entirely her right. All victims of offending are different. Some wish to write to me, some wish not to write to me.

“How she feels is how she feels and I totally respect that. I wish to acknowledge her as a victim in this case and the sentence I impose will reflect that.”

The judge said the defendant would be on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for a period of ten years.

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