A woman who was raped as a child almost nightly by her father says she is 'devastated' by his release on bail this afternoon.
Fiona Doyle waived her right to anonymity so that her father Patrick O'Brien from Old Court Avenue, Bray in Co. Wicklow could be named.
He pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 16 charges of raping and indecently assaulting her at Mackintosh Park, Pottery Road in Dun Laoghaire from 1973 to 1982.
Mr Justice Paul Carney branded the offences 'heinous crimes' and called it among the worst cases of abuse of a father on a daughter.
He imposed a 12-year sentence with 9-years suspended but then granted bail to the 72-year-old on the basis that it was a case fit for appeal.
He said such a hearing should be expedited.
Ill-health taken into account
The court had heard submissions from defence barrister Mary Rose Gearty that the accused is in 'extremely poor health'.
He has arthritis, a heart condition and is oxygen dependent at night.
The judge said he was aware that a substantial custodial sentence could lead to accusations on appeal that he had substituted one injustice for another.
He also expressed concern a suspended sentence will 'go out into the community via soundbites' that 'in one of the most serious cases of serial rape on a daughter the accused walked'.
Director of Nursing at the Irish Prison Service, Frances Nangle O'Connor gave evidence during the hearing that they have previously managed inmates with similar medical conditions.
Speaking after the hearing outside the Criminal Courts of Justice Fiona Doyle said 'I don't know what this gives out to the world or to Ireland. He raped me for 10 years and he walks out of here today'.
She believes her mother was aware of the abuse 'she knew, from the early age of 8 to 10 I was called your father's whore. Those words will ring in my head for the rest of my life and so will today'.
Patrick O'Brien left the court house minutes later with his wife Bridget.
Asked by reporters if he felt any remorse for what he has done he replied 'no comment'.
