Father who groomed and abused daughter for years finally locked up

Fiona Ferguson and Sonya McLean

A father who sexually abused his daughter during her childhood, telling her that they had “a special love” her mother would be jealous of, has been jailed for seven years.

Gordon McKenna (79), formerly of Marian Grove, Old Moore Street, Mountmellick, Laois, now living in Germany, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting his daughter at various locations, including the family home in Tallaght, Dublin, on mountain biking trips and at the cinema, on dates between 1977 and 1983. He has no previous convictions.

McKenna had previously denied the charges but pleaded guilty before his trial commenced at the Central Criminal Court.

Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, prosecuting, told Ms Justice Melanie Greally that Jane Murray (55) wished to waive her right to anonymity to allow her father to be named in reporting the case. She joined the hearing remotely via an audio link.

The court heard that Ms Murray’s mother suspected McKenna was having an affair when Ms Murray was 13 years old. It was at this point that the teenager told her mother that she was “the other woman”. McKenna left the family home, and the abuse came to an end.

Ms Murray was seen by her family doctor and attended counselling. McKenna, Ms Murray and her mother later participated in joint family counselling, but McKenna actively influenced his daughter’s communications. Her mother later featured in a RTÉ broadcast regarding child sexual abuse.

Germany

McKenna continued to have contact with Ms Murray, and he did not allow her to call him “Dad”. He would tell people that they happened across while out in public that she was his girlfriend.

The abuse came to the attention of both gardaí and Tusla after Ms Murray applied for records of those counselling sessions as an adult in 2018. She went on to make statements of complaint.

At this point, McKenna had remarried and moved to Germany. Through mutual assistance, gardaí contacted him, but he denied any wrongdoing.

Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, said McKenna had written a letter to the court outlining his sorrow and regret for his actions. He asked the court to take into account his guilty plea, his advanced age and his work history.

He said the accused had remarried. His wife is receiving palliative care, and the accused is a carer for her. He outlined that McKenna had a number of medical issues himself.

Passing sentence on Tuesday, Ms Justice Melanie Greally acknowledged that the harm caused to Ms Murray by her father was “unquantifiable and impossible to articulate”.

She said her victim impact statement, read into the record by Mr O Dúnlaing, was “poignant and restrained” and that Ms Murray is only beginning to process her childhood experience. She acknowledged that the abuse impacted her sense of self, and she has a lack of value and self-worth, which has affected her capacity to form relationships.

“She eloquently speaks of the love she should have received,” Ms Justice Greally said before she said Ms Murray spoke of the lie her father told her about their “so-called relationship”.

Grooming

She noted that Ms Murray spoke of her father’s deviousness and how he abused her without any care for her well-being and her future.

“Her victim impact statement is a simple expression of her immense sadness and sense of loss for what might have been,” Ms Justice Greally said.

Ms Justice Greally said McKenna was responsible for Ms Murray’s care as a child while her mother was working.

She said the abuse was “a highly specific grooming and manipulation”, noting that McKenna thought his daughter to control and switch off her emotions and that he played tricks to scare her and was amused by her fear.

Ms Justice Greally said that McKenna told his daughter that they had “a special deep relationship that no one could understand and that her mother would be jealous if she knew”.

She noted that Ms Murray said she was abused most days after school.

Ms Justice Greally said the abuse represented “an extreme abuse of trust by a parent who was also her primary carer”.

She took into account Ms Murray’s extreme youth at the time and her dependency on her father, that the abuse occurred in the family home, its frequency and duration and the “immeasurable psychological harm caused to her” and its impact on her personal development, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Ms Justice Greally noted that a maximum sentence of two years applies to a number of the earlier incidents of abuse due to the legislation which existed at the time, which she said “in no way reflects the culpability of the offender or the harm caused”.

She said in mitigation that she was taking into account the plea of guilty, but noted that it was a late plea and that Ms Murray still had to live with the prospect of a trial and giving evidence.

She further acknowledged McKenna’s lack of previous convictions, his pro-social life since, his remorse for his actions, his medical conditions and his current wife's poor medical condition and the fact that he acts as her carer in Germany.

Ms Justice Greally imposed concurrent sentences of 16 months for the earlier offences and a consecutive term of five years and eight months for the later offences. These later offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years following a change in legislation.

The judge said she didn’t consider a post-release supervision order necessary in the case.