TWO WOMEN WHO were sexually abused when they were children by family members have called for the sentences to be appealed on the grounds that they were too lenient. 

David Hamilton (33) of Woodtown West, Athboy, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the older girl and sexual assault of the younger girl in Meath on dates between 2004 and 2008.

He was given a seven-and-a-half year sentence, with the last 12 months suspended “to incentivise rehabilitation”.

One of the girls was also raped by Hamilton’s older brother, Jonathan, on one occasion.

He was sentenced to three years with the final six months suspended.

The younger of the victims, Sophie*, told The Journal that the sentences are a “slap in the face”, and she hopes that the Director of Public Prosecutions will appeal the decisions.

“I don’t blame that specific judge that was there that day because, to be fair to him, he looked really disappointed with what he had to give … I blame the system,” Sophie said.

Mr Justice Hunt accepted that the brothers had pleaded guilty at a very early stage and said that this was a significant mitigating feature in the case.

David Hamilton was initially handed a 14-year sentence, but it was automatically reduced due to him being a minor when he committed the offences.

Sophie took issue with the logic of this, considering Hamilton was in his late teens before the abuse stopped.

“A 17-and-a-half year old is old enough to know right from wrong, in my opinion,” she said.

“That’s what we’re so angry about – that there was so much leniency and so much time taken off.”

Sophie said it’s an “injustice system” that on this occasion hasn’t adequately punished “heinous” crimes.

Divided family

Sophie said the Hamiltons had moved into the home she was living in after their home was damaged in a fire. 

In 2011, when Sophie was still a child, she says she told a family member about the abuse, but the family member didn’t act on the information. 

“I only found out in my late teens that [they] had never spoken to [David] because [they] had never believed me. And that’s what drove me to tell [the rest of my] family and make a statement.”

It was only after that that she found out that the brothers had abused another relative too. 

The two women subsequently made statements to gardaí and, despite the Hamilton brothers’ early guilty pleas, Sophie says that one side of the family still doesn’t believe that the abuse took place.

She says one close family member has not spoken to her since she began telling more people about what happened.

However, Sophie says one side of the family have been supportive and “couldn’t do enough” for the women.

*Sophie’s full name is being withheld