A man who fled Northern Ireland over child sex abuse claims made by his step-daughter was today (Tuesday) handed a 30 month sentence.
Judge Philip Gilpin told the 52-year-old he will spend half the sentence in custody with a similar period on licence following his release from prison.
He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one of an adult engaging in sexual activity with a child. The step-father, who can’t be named to protect his victim’s identity, also admitted causing a child to watch a sexual act, sexual touching of a child and possessing extreme pornography.
Belfast Crown Court heard the man, who is originally from Slovakia, was in a relationship with the victim’s mother when the offences came to light. Prosecution barrister Joseph Murphy outlined how the victim was aged nine or ten when the offending took place between October 2014 and December 2015 while the abuser was in his early 40s.
The court was told the victim’s mother was in the kitchen of their Belfast home in March 2017 when she raised the subject of sex education.
“At that point the victim froze and disclosed to her mother that her step father had sexually abused her,” said Mr Murphy.
Two days later she went to police and told detectives that the abuse started in the autumn of 2014 when one night she was in her bedroom and he got into bed with her and sexually assaulted her. She added that this happened on a number of occasions. The victim said that a few nights later he came back into her bedroom and exposed himself to her.
A week later the defendant climbed into the victim’s bed and “brushed himself” against her “before she started to cry”.
“She ran downstairs crying and wanted to speak to her mother but he told her to go back up to bed,” said Mr Murphy.
“He tried to calm her down and told her not to tell anyone or she would get into trouble.”
On another occasion he showed her a video of a man and woman having sex and told her: “This is the way it should be done.”
The victim told him she was “disgusted”. Later that month the defendant was arrested by police and denied engaging in any type of sexual activity with his step daughter.
His phone was seized and during a subsequent examination it was found to contain two extreme pornographic images. The court heard that following the police interview the defendant fled Northern Ireland and left no forwarding contact details. He subsequently was arrested in mainland Europe in 2022 and flown back to Belfast.
In a pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board, the defendant denied having any knowledge of the extreme pornographic images on his phone and also denied being sexually attracted to children.
Judge Gilpin described the offences as “a breach of trust in that you were a father figure” and the offending took place in the victim’s home “where she should have felt safe”.
Judge Gilpin told the defendant: “There was a significant disparity in age between you and your victim and you warned your victim not to report your offending. The victim has reported how your actions have affected her. Her sleeping is distracted and she has flashbacks. She has had to undergo counselling and she now has issues of accepting any father figure in her life.”
Judge Gilpin placed the defendant on the sex offenders register for life and said he would be the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
English (United States) ·