A man who sexually abused five of his children has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The children were locked in a room for days at a time, deprived of food and forced to drink urine.
Noel Farrell, 70, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a number of counts of sexual abuse against his four daughters and one son at various addresses in Co Sligo over two decades.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said this was a case he suspected would stand out in his memory “for all the wrong reasons” including the extreme cruelty and gravity of the offending.
He said: “It is truly shocking.
One runs out of words in trying to describe the depths plumbed in this particular case.
He said the complainants were dealt a terrible hand in life and were exposed to a grotesque breach of parental trust.
He said they had shown an extraordinary degree of fortitude and courage in how they faced up to their lives.
Noting the lack of mitigating factors in the case, save for the guilty plea, Mr Justice Hunt set a headline sentence of 30 years, which he reduced to 20 years.
He said there was no need to impose a post-release supervision order, because if Farrell “does emerge from a custodial sentence”, he will be extremely elderly.
Farrell, from Sligo, Co Sligo, made no visible reaction as the sentence was handed down, while the complainants in the case embraced each other.
The court heard that four of the five children wished to waive their right to anonymity so Farrell could be identified in reporting and that the fifth did not wish to be named herself but wished for Farrell to be named.
In victim impact statements, the five siblings spoke of the effects of the abuse on their mental health, relationships and lives.
Some of the victims also spoke about developing addiction issues and the impact of being placed into care.
Farrell initially faced 109 counts, but pleaded guilty to three counts of rape against three of his daughters, and 19 counts of indecent assault and sexual assault relating to all five complainants.
Evidence was heard that the abuse included rape, sexual assault, inappropriate touching and digital penetration.
The five victims were aged between two and 17 during the periods when Farrell abused them.
Giving evidence last December, Garda Sergeant Diarmuid Fearon outlined that Farrell and his late wife had serious issues with alcohol.
The court heard evidence of neglect, including some of the children often going hungry, being locked in a room for days and being forced to drink urine to survive.
After the marriage broke down, Farrell went to England. Some of the children were taken into care in 1981.
The court was told the Health Board had concerns about sexual misconduct and this was reported in some form in 1989.
Mr Justice Hunt said it was clear from the victim impact statements that the abuse caused profound and enduring harm to the five complainants.
He told them: “I want to say how impressive you are and how impressive you have been in facing what you faced and how you faced it.
“You can hold your head up high.”
The first complainant, Amanda, told gardai her father sexually abused her for the first time when she was around seven years’ old.
She was later taken into care, then went to live with her grandmother after which the abuse ended. She confronted her father in the pub when she was 18, asking why he did it and he replied “I don’t know”.
Farrell also admitted abusing another daughter Helen. Evidence was heard that she was aged between four and six-and-a-half when the abuse took place.
She told gardai that the children would be locked in a bedroom when Farrell and her mother left the house. There was a bucket left in the room for them to use.
In her victim impact statement, Helen said the abuse had a “devastating and lasting impact”, and took away her sense of safety and innocence.
Jessica Farrell told gardai she was first abused when she was around three and half years’ old in an aunt’s house.
In one incident, Farrell brought her to his room, sexually abused her and said he would give her money to buy sweets if she did not cry.
She was taken into care when she was four.
When she was older, she asked Farrell about the abuse. He told her it was because her mother was always out drinking to which she replied that was no excuse.
Reading her victim impact statement, Jessica Farrell said she was hurt by the person who was supposed to protect her the most.
She said she felt she was “the one taken away” when the truth came out, spent 10 years in care and felt she was “the one being punished”.
She described confronting Farrell, and that over time, she saw a different side to her father and someone who was trying to change.
She said she forgave him, not because what he did could ever be excused, but because she needed to.
She said that she is still healing and added: “The impact of your actions did not end years ago.”
Farrell further pleaded guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting his son Christopher.
Reading his victim impact statement, Christopher said the abuse affected his mental health, relationships and education as he was unable to trust others.
He said he turned to addiction later in his teens to “try to block out the trauma”.
Farrell also pleaded guilty to raping and abusing a fourth daughter.
In her statement, the fourth daughter said she does not think her father will ever “understand or feel the way you affected my life.”
“You convinced so many people that you never did anything to us,” she said.
“I was only a baby and you took my life away from me.”
She said the abuse impacted her mental health and that she developed anorexia.
A formal complaint was made to gardai in 2019.
Farrell was voluntarily interviewed in March 2022 and denied all the allegations against him.
#realcrimenews
#sligo
Image :- Brave Christopher, Amanda, Jessica and Helen Farrell told of the impact the abuse has had on them and waived there right to anonymity in a show of strength, solidarity and determination - their image stands as a show of force against those that wish to commit the most serious form of harm against there victims !!
A POWERFUL SHOW OF SOLIDARITY!!!!
BLESS YOU GUYS ❤
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