LAST UPDATE | 2 Mar

A 60-YEAR-OLD WOMAN has been sentenced to a total of fourteen months in prison for exposing her daughter to “prolific sex abuse” on a daily basis by her husband when she was aged between three and 15. 

Jacqueline Curran, 60, appeared before Judge Sinéad McMullan for sentencing at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court today having previously pleaded guilty to two sample charges that she exposed her daughter, Sophia Murphy, 40, to assault, ill-treatment and neglect in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.

Sophia, who joined today’s court proceedings via video-link, waived her right to anonymity at a previous court hearing.

Sophia Murphy’s father, John Murphy, Jacqueline Curran’s ex-husband, is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence for subjecting for a litany of sexual abuse on an almost daily basis at addresses in the Mayo and Galway between 3 January 1995 and 31 December 1995 and 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2000.

John Murphy is a former member of the Defence Forces.

At the outset of today’s sentencing hearing Judge McMullan said there was no suggestion Curran was involved in the abuse herself or that she knew the full extent or gravity of the abuse at the hands of her late husband.

Garda Inspector Thomasina McHale told a previous court hearing that the investigation into the victim’s mother was secondary to an extensive historical sexual abuse allegation involving the victim’s father.

Inspector McHale said the abuse against the victim between 1988 and 2001, when she was aged between three and sixteen, included touching her genitals, digital penetration, penetration with objects including vibrators, a candle and the handle of a hairbrush.

“It happened on a daily basis,” the officer stated. “It happened in multiple rooms in the house, frequently in the bathroom, the sitting room, her parents’ bedroom, her bedroom and in the car as well”.

In her earlier victim impact statement Sophia Murphy said she viewed her mother’s lack of protection as a betrayal.

“I often slept in sheds to avoid going home,” she outlined stating that the abuse had affected her education, she had taken to substance abuse, suffered from an eating disorder and severe anxiety and these effects are still ongoing.

Continuing her victim impact statement, Sophia Murphy said what happened had affected her relationship with her own daughter and that her mother’s failure to protect her changed the entire direction of her life.

She concluded her statement by saying she was making it for “the little girl who never had a voice; for the teenager who slept in sheds to avoid home; for the woman who fought trauma alone; for her deceased sister, who had lived with the darkness of abuse too; and for her daughter, who deserved a mother who wasn’t broken”.

Imposing sentence this morning Judge McMullan said there was no doubt serious harm was caused to Sophia, a very real harm that continues to this day.

Describing what happened as a very serious breach of trust, she said it fell far short of the duty every parent has to protect their children.

“It was not a one-off incident,” the judge noted. “There was a continuing failure to protect her daughter over a number of years.”

Judge McMullan sentenced Curran to 18 months in prison with the final four months suspended. 

Defence counsel Diarmuid Connolly told a previous court that a custodial sentence would be unduly harsh and said the abuse had resulted in Curran being estranged from her family.

Judge McMullan acknowledged that the defendant was considered to be at a low risk of reoffending, had pleaded guilty and had no previous convictions.

However, it was her view that the threshold for a custodial sentence had been reached and that this should send a signal to mark society’s revulsion about the nature of the crimes involved.