A 65-year-old man has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for the rape and sexual abuse of his sister in law when she was a young teenager.
Bartholomew Prendergast of Cruachan in Dungarvan pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and 13 counts of indecent assault against Stephanie Hickey at locations in Waterford and Tipperary in the 1980s.
He also pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of her older sister Deirdre Fahy and two counts of indecent assault against a third woman who doesn’t wish to be identified.
The two sisters waived their right to anonymity so Bartholomew Prendergast could be named.
Speaking outside court, Deirdre and Stephanie who are now in their 40s and 50s, gave their reaction to the sentence:
“I’m happy enough with the sentence – I didn’t know what to expect really going in there – but it’s okay it’s good – he’s not going to be walking away anytime soon so can’t complain too much – obviously we would have preferred more…but we can’t complain too much.”
“I would have preferred if he got a harder sentence – but it’s eight years and now his time starts and ours will start to be much happier and start living again.”
