The 24-year-old woman, who waved her right to anonymity, said that Stephen Murray, of Humphreystown, Valleymount, Co Wicklow, had raped her 1,000 times from the age of 11 until she was 18, turning her life into a "living nightmare".

Mr Justice Paul McDermott described the abuse as an "egregious breach of trust" and sentenced him to 12 years, suspended the final year.

The 56-year-old man pleaded guilty to 14 charges of rape, two charges of oral rape and one charge of sexual assault on dates between February 2009 and December 2015.

The plea was acceptable to the DPP on the basis they were sample charges.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said she was still uncovering the ways the abuse has affected her life and said she had been hurt "in a way that no human should".

"The abuse feels like a life sentence," she said.

The woman said the impact on her from the abuse was "more than I ever imagined".

"It has torn me to pieces. My teenage years were dark."

She described feeling numb and said she did not want to exist, she was "ashamed and embarrassed".

She said she felt "trapped, helpless and frightened" and said she was too scared to report the abuse because of what may happen her younger brother and sister, who were also living in the foster home.

Concluding her statement, she said: "I stand in front of you as a survivor... Today is when I start to live. I am determined that I will not let this define me".

The court heard that following an initial abuse of the girl while in the sitting room of the family home, the man would regularly come into her bedroom at night and rape her.

The other members of the family, including his wife, were often in the house sleeping at the time.

His marriage has since ended.

The woman reported the abuse to gardaí in 2019 following a text conversation with the man when he asked her if they "could go again?"

She took this to mean that he was asking to have sex with her again. Read More...