Dad who sexually abused 5 of his kids and forced them to drink urine jailed | World | News

A man who sexually abused five of his children, when they were between the ages of three and 17, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Noel Farrell, 70, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a number of sample counts of sexual abuse against his four daughters and one son at various addresses in County Sligo, Ireland, over a period of two decades.

Farrell locked his children in a room for days at a time without food and forced them to drink urine, the court heard. He 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, between 1979 and 1997 at various addresses in Co Sligo. The five victims have waived their right to anonymity so their father could be named.

The court heard that Farrell and his late wife had very serious issues with alcohol. The children were neglected and often hungry. After the marriage broke down, Farrell went to England. Some of the children were taken into care at various stages. The court was told the Health Board had concerns about sexual misconduct, and this was reported in some form in 1989.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Farrell’s son, Christopher, said he was 15 months old when the abuse began for him and described it as « your worst nightmare ». His sister, Jessica, said that she was three years old when she « remembered the first time » she was abused by her father. They said an aunt would come to deliver food to them, but at times they were left with no food, with just a bucket in the room to use as a toilet.

« What I can recall, from my own memories, it was then until I was five, six. No child should have to go through anything like that, under any circumstances, especially from the people that are meant to be your parents, your dad anyway, » Christopher said.

Sentencing Farrell on Saturday (February 21), 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. “It is truly shocking,” he said.

“One runs out of words in trying to describe the depths plumbed in this particular case. I say this as a way of trying to illustrate how extreme and awful the nature of the facts in this case are ».

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. In their 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.

Noting the lack of mitigating factors in the case, but taking into consideration 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 very elderly.

According to the Irish Mirror, Farrell made no visible reaction as the sentence was handed down, while the complainants in the case embraced each other.