Father escapes jail for assaulted paedophile who abused his daughters

A father who assaulted a former IRA man who raped and sexually abused his young daughters has escaped jail.
The 37-year-old, who cannot be named to protect his daughters’ identification by court order, admitted swinging a golf club at the pervert and then, when it smashed, sticking the shaft into his side.
Judge John O’Hagan also ruled the 53-year-old paedophile who was victim of the attack could not be named as he had former links with the defendant’s nine-year-old and 11-year-old daughters whom he abused.
The girl’s father admitted assault causing harm to the paedophile at Rossnowlagh beach on Sept 17, 2009.
Donegal Circuit Court heard the paedophile was recently sentenced to 15 years at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin when he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of oral rape and sex assault against the two girls between November 2008 and May 2009.
The court heard how the girls’ father, when he heard the pervert was out on bail while the sex assaults were being investigated, traced him to Rossnowlagh.
Det Sgt Michael Carroll told the court how the paedophile was hit on the right hand side of the head with a golf club which broke in half. Then, during a physical exchange, the girls’ father stuck the shaft of the club into the man’s right hand side.
When he withdrew it there was blood all over the place.
Defence counsel Peter Nolan told the court his client recognised that he did wrong in law, but he felt he failed as a father to protect the children he loved so dearly from this evil paedophile.
Judge O’Hagan acknowledged that when the surface was scratched it was apparent the father “lost it” and was “overpowered by emotion” when he discovered his two lovely daughters were abused.
He was lucky the golf club which he used as a weapon did not stab the paedophile in a life-threatening manner.
He imposed a sentence of 18 months on the father but replaced it with 150 hours community service.