Coleraine Courthouse.
A depraved father and his brother have been sentenced to a total of 51 years in jail for the horrific abuse of their daughter and niece.
Sentencing the father to 28 years and the uncle to 23 years at Coleraine Crown Court, Judge Gordon Kerr QC described the abuse as “unprecedented depravity.”
The men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were found guilty last month after a three-week trial during which the daughter told how she was raped 1,000 times.
She was just four years old when the abuse began and it continued until she was an adult.
The court heard she was abused on an almost daily basis, and it even continued after the brothers left their family home and got married.
The father was found guilty of 31 offences including six rapes of his daughter, the victim’s uncle was also found guilty of carrying out three rapes on his niece.
A third accused man – a family friend – was acquitted.
Following the trial, Judge Kerr told the jury that given the length and graphic nature of the evidence, if they wished, they could excused from further jury service for life.
Passing sentence today, Judge said the offences were of a “level of depraved behaviour that was almost unprecedented.”
He said the brothers were responsible for “the cold, cynical exploitation of a young girl… they used her as a personal plaything for their own sexual gratification.”
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