An
86-year-old man who raped two children more than 60 years ago has avoided jail
because a judge said he is too old and ill.
John Joe
Kiernan repeatedly raped the boy and girl, who are brother and sister, when
they were between four and 10-years-old.
Kiernan was
arrested after his victims, who are now in their 60s, came forward to police in
Ireland last year.
He would
attack the children near or on farmland where he worked as a labourer in the
late 1950s.
In one sickening
attack, he raped the girl in her bedroom and threatened to ‘bury her’
afterwards, The Journal reports.
Detective
Sergeant Sharon Walsh told the court that Kiernan would orally rape the boy on
fishing trips.
The victim
told police: ‘I never remember being afraid. This was just normal life for me.’
Kiernan,
from Arva in County Cavan, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently
assaulting the boy between 1958 and 1963, and five counts of indecently
assaulting his younger sister between 1959 and 1963.
Despite the
shocking attacks, Justice Michael White said it was not appropriate to jail
Kiernan given his age and bad health.
Kiernan is
housebound with diabetes and heart disease. He was sentenced to eight years for
the rape and five years and two years for the indecent assaults.
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