A Kerry man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting four children.
The man, who is in his 60s, cannot be named to protect the identity of the victims in this case.
The alleged offending occurred in a rural part of Kerry and another county in Munster, between 1995 and 2005.
The man was found guilty on all four counts, by a unanimous verdict.
The man is not a blood relation of the four complainants, who are now all adults, but he did have frequent access to them at the time of the offending.
The man was convicted of sexually assaulting one girl when she was between 12 and 14 years old, by putting his hand inside her underwear as he held her upside down playfully.
He committed the same act on a younger sister of that girl, when she was between six and eight years old, a number of years later.
A first cousin of those girls was also sexually assaulted by the man when she was eight years old.
The man was also found guilty of the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy, the brother of the first two girls, by climbing into bed with him while he slept in his own bed.
Victim impact statements from the four victims read into court this morning, outlined long-lasting and profound impacts from the sexual assaults, and from re-living the abuse in the witness box this week.
The youngest of the victims, who had been accused of turning on the waterworks giving her evidence by defence Senior Counsel Anthony Sammon, said to be so brutally questioned was harrowing and something she’ll never forget.
Mr Sammon had also asked two of the women how big they were and how much they weighed at the age they claimed they were assaulted, claiming it was not physically possible for the man to assault them while holding them upside down.
Judge Sinead Behan was told that the man does not accept the jury’s verdict, and Judge Behan said this shows he cannot offer remorse or insight into his offending.
She sentenced him to four years in prison for each of the counts, with the final six months suspended for two years, with all sentences to run concurrently.
The man will also be placed on the sex offenders’ register.
