‘He was my father – he was supposed to protect me, not destroy me’
Picture used for illustration purposes only
A CO CARLOW woman has described how her childhood was “destroyed” by the very person who was supposed to protect her, as her father was found guilty and jailed for her sexual abuse.
Philip Kavanagh of Banagagole, Old Leighlin, Co Carlow was found guilty of sexual assault, contrary to section 2 of the of his daughter following a ten-day trial at the Central Criminal Court last month.
Mr Kavanagh (61) had pleaded not guilty to the charge at the trial, which was held before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs in Waterford.
However, having heard all the evidence from a number of witnesses, including the victim and members of her family, the jury found Mr Kavanagh guilty of the charge. Mr Kavanagh did not give evidence at the trial.
In her evidence, the victim recounted the sexual assault, which took place in her parents’ bedroom, when she was aged “between second and fifth class”.
In delivering her sentence on 3 December, Ms Justice Biggs remarked that the offence had taken place in what should have been a safe place for the victim, her family home in Co Wexford, and had been committed by her own father. Ms Justice Biggs sentenced Mr Kavanagh to three years and seven months’ imprisonment. He was also placed under post-release supervision in accordance with the Sex Offenders Act for a period of three years and ordered to comply with the directions of the Probation Service on his release from custody.
In a moving victim impact statement, Mr Kavanagh’s 41-year-old daughter spoke of how her father’s actions had “destroyed my childhood”.
“I don’t have any good memories – not my Communion, Confirmation or birthdays. The memories I do have I wish I could forget. He was my father – he was supposed to protect me, not destroy me. He knows exactly what he did to me,” she stated.
The woman described how her father had “broken me and made me feel my life wasn’t worth living. I had no way out. I couldn’t escape it or live with what he had done to me anymore”.
She stated that she had tried to pull away from him years ago but “I just wasn’t able to; he had too much power and control over me. I hate him for the person he has made me,” she said.
In her statement, the woman admitted that she is still afraid, still living in fear, even though she knows her father is in jail.
“I’m still looking around me, checking to make sure he’s not there. I know I’m an adult now but all of those terrible things he has done to me, I’m still afraid. I’m not able to fix me; I don’t know if I have the strength anymore,” she said.
“He is a monster of the worst kind,” the woman said.
Addressing the impact of reporting the abuse to gardaí and sitting though a contested trial, the woman said: “These last five years have been so, so hard; many times I thought I wouldn’t make it. Thankfully, I’m here and still fighting – fighting to survive, to stay going because I have to, my kids and my husband need me.
“My husband has been fantastic through all of this. I really believe that only for him I wouldn’t be here today – he’s my rock,” she said.
“All through this process and court, I was made to feel like I was the one that had done wrong. During the trial, both my husband and I sat with our heads down, afraid to look around. We were being judged, which was so wrong. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong … all I did was tell the truth,” she said.
“No-one protected me when I was a child, and there was no-one protecting me now either. I’m the victim. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I was the one who had to hide away, living in fear, when he got to walk around doing whatever he wanted to.
“I believe the only way I escaped it was the day I reported what Philip had done to me to the guards. I will never get over what he’s done to me, but in a small way I’ve taken back some control over my life,” she concluded.
