A woman who was sexually abused by her older brother has urged victims to come forward, report it and get help.
Lynn Ronan, 51, waived her anonymity to allow her brother, Karl Ronan, to be named after he was sentenced to five and a half years for prison for abusing her during their childhood.
The 55-year-old, from Curraghhall Green, Tyrrellstown in Dublin, pleaded guilty to raping and indecently assaulting Ms Ronan on dates between 1982 and 1986 when she was aged between 10 and 14.
The abuse was discovered in 1986 by their mother who sent them to see a child psychologist.
However, the Central Criminal Court heard it was “swept under the carpet” and continued to have a devastating effect on Ms Ronan until she reported it as an adult in 2018.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that a significant period of time had passed before the woman made a complaint to gardaí.
During this time, he said: “The pressure remains on the victim to keep the secret and not to speak” and that may endure for years, as it had in this case.
The judge said it took a lot to bring the complaint out from under the stones, and speak the truth and he commended Ms Ronan for what she had done.
Mr Justice McDermott said that her brother had bullied, dominated and blighted her childhood, teenage years and adulthood.
The court heard that all the children in the family experienced violence in the home and the judge said that Karl Ronan had made his sister’s already difficult childhood more difficult. He had abused her trust and had taken advantage of the situation.
If he had been an adult during the offending, Mr Justice Mc Dermott said, the offences would have merited very high penalties, given the frequency of the offences and the fact they included repeated rapes of a young girl.
The court heard that Ms Ronan disclosed the abuse during a counselling session in 2018. It had occurred at their home in Dublin, near their grandmother’s home in Laois, and in Galway.
Karl Ronan told gardaí that it was “play acting” and consensual. He denied rape.
Letter of apology ‘self-serving and too late’ – Lynn Ronan
In her victim impact statement, Ms Ronan said she had spent too many years with deep sadness and self-loathing, feeling like she was crazy.
She said that when she was unable to move on and pretend the abuse had not happened, she was made to feel as if she was the problem.
Ms Ronan outlined how her schooling and family life had been affected and said she suffered medical issues.
She said that she plastered on a happy face and had kept the secret for too many years. Even when the abuse was discovered, she added, it had been swept under the carpet.
Ms Ronan refused to accept a letter of apology from her brother saying it was self-serving and too late.
The judge noted the fact that Karl Ronan had been engaged as a professional musician for a number of years, had a continuous work record and no criminal convictions. He further acknowledged that he has been assessed at a “low-risk of reoffending” in a sexual way.
Mr Justice McDermott said the assessment also concluded that he required “further treatment to develop victim empathy” before he acknowledged that Ms Ronan “eloquently” set out in her victim impact statement “the utterly devastating effect of the abuse”.
He was sentenced to six years in prison for the rape offence and a concurrent three-year term for the indecent assault offences.
The final six months of the sentence were suspended on strict conditions including that he engage with the Probation Service for two years upon his release from prison.
The judge ordered that Ronan attend any programmes as deemed suitable by the Probation Service and have no direct or indirect contact with Ms Ronan.
In a statement afterwards, she thanked all of those who had helped her and said she was very pleased with the sentence.
She said she had waived her anonymity to encourage anyone who had gone through what she had to come forward, report it and get help.
“You will be believed and there is a lot of support out there,” she said.
