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Parents’ torment laid bare as girls’ rapist jailed for life
‘are we lost to evil?’ THE father of one of two young girls lured away from a birthday party and repeatedly raped said when she first told him what had happened it was ‘like a bomb going off in my head’. The man said his six-year-old, who was attacked along with another girl of nine, repeatedly asks him why the accused did what he did. She described the pain of the rape as cutting like a knife. He said she freezes or panics when she sees ‘creepy men everywhere, everyday’ and refused to be on her own at any time, including at night. The 30-year-old attacker was handed two life sentences yesterday. Initially caught by relatives of the victims, it was only in his fifth interview with gardaí that the man admitted luring the children away from the green on which they were playing with a story about his six-year-old sister who was too shy to play. He told gardaí he had been drinking cider and vodka since 7am and had taken valium. He said a local priest had given him €10 that morning for food but he used it to buy cider. The man brought the girls to his flat in the midlands town, undressed them and repeateadly raped them orally and anally. During the 20-minute ordeal, among other horrors, he told them: ‘Do what I tell you or I will cut your parents’ throat and then cut yours’. Afterwards, he allowed them to put
by declan brennan
back on their clothes, but not their shoes, and left. The older girl opened a window and the pair climbed through. She told the younger girl they would be in the flat forever if they didn’t escape now. The mother of the nine-year-old said that since the attack she is living a nightmare, saying ‘the attacker made a cold, predatory decision to rape my daughter. He made her believe in her little heart that she would die if she didn’t comply. He gratified himself on the body of an innocent child.’ Sentencing, Justice Paul Carney said he found it too upsetting to recite the facts of the case. ‘A feature of this case was to observe the faces of the hard-boiled press corps having difficulty listening to the facts emerging,’ he said. He said that it was too serious a case for any discount in sentence. After sentence was passed the attacker asked to apologise to the victims. The man’s previous convictions include criminal damage and robbery, but there was no evidence of paedophilia in his extensive medical history. He was released from prison three days before the attack. The statement of the father of the other victim included a poem which he read to the court, asking: ‘What can a daddy do to protect this princess beauty? Are we lost to evil?’
‘He made her believe in her little heart that she would die’
Selfie promotion Ellen DeGeneres became the champion of Twitter after uploading a star-studded Oscar selfie that was retweeted more than 2.8million times. The 56-yearold host’s picture, taken by Bradley Cooper, was also favourited 1.4million times and smashed the previous record of 781,000 shares set by Barack Obama after his re-election in 2012. ‘If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever,’ DeGeneres posted.
The photo included herself, Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong’o and Angelina Jolie. Unfortunately Liza Minnelli was too short to make it into the background. Photobombing also proved popular with Benedict Cumberbatch getting behind U2 Oscars Guilty Pleasures page 8
Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it