THIS is Co Limerick father Christopher O’Mahony, who is unmasked for the first time by his daughter and sister-in-law as a “monster and paedophile”.
O’Mahony, 67, of Kerrykyle, Ardagh, Co Limerick, sexually assaulted both of them when they were children.
He was charged with a total of 54 counts on indictment, pleaded guilty to 18 sample counts of sexually assaulting and indecently assaulting the two girls, from when they were aged nine and 10, on dates in the 1980s and 1990s.
O’Mahony’s daughter, Emma O’Shaughnessy née O’Mahony, and her aunt, Helen Costelloe, waived their right to anonymity at O’Mahony’s sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, allowing him to be named.
Ms O’Shaughnessy broke down in court telling about the horrendous abuse “by my abuser, my father, Christopher O’Mahony”.
She told the court her mother Joan O’Mahony and her sisters Ceara O’Mahony and Christina Hogan had “chosen to support my abuser”.
She said her father’s abuse had split their family in two, and she felt “abandoned” by her mother and sisters.
“So, now, I am fatherless, I am motherless, and I no longer have sisters which is unimaginably cruel,” Ms O’Shaughnessy said.
Prosecuting barrister, Lily Buckley, said O’Mahony “depleted and degraded” his daughter with years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse.
“The same horrible experience happened over and over,” said Ms Buckley.
O’Mahony told his daughter that the abuse was a “secret” and she could not tell her mother, who was away working when the sexual abuse occurred.
At the time, Ms O’Shaughnessy was in fifth class in primary school and “had no idea what was happening”, Ms Buckley said.
‘HE ERASED ME’
As O’Mahony sexually assaulted his daughter, he told her, “you like that don’t you”, but she was too scared to respond “in case he would (hit) her”.
“She became a quiet and compliant child, she was cold, shuddering uncontrollably and doubled over at the (bathroom) sink. It hurt and stung, she was scared frozen, and stared blankly into the scummy soapy water while she tried to blank out what was happening,” added Ms Buckley.
Reading a victim impact statement in court, Ms O’Shaughnessy said: “What my father did to me was inhumane — when my father sexually abused me, he erased me as a person.
“What he did to me destroyed me, I was no longer a child, no longer somebody with thoughts and feelings, I was a thing to be used, abused, controlled and manipulated.”
‘FULL OF SHAME’
Ms O’Shaughnessy said O’Mahony “should have been my protector, but he became a monster instead”. She said the sex assaults left her feeling “disgusting dirty, and full of shame”.
She continued: “I felt unclean, like maggots were crawling under my skin. I would wash and scrub and still feel dirty, I wanted to scrub the skin off my body, and I often tried, until I was raw, sore and bleeding.”
The sexual abuse eventually stopped after Ms O’Shaugnessy (then 13) fought back, pushing O’Mahony off her at their home.
However, the physical and psychological abuse continued and O’Mahony ruled the family home with “an iron fist”. Ms Buckley said O’Mahony kicked his daughter, called her a “scourge” and “bitch”, and told her he “hated” her.
O’Mahony also belittled the way Ms O’Shaughnessy spoke resulting in her speech being “altered”.
FAMILY MEETING
Ms Buckley said: “Her mother, for a quiet life, went along with these things and asked her to make an effort.”
O’Mahony would also refuse her permission to go to the toilet, resulting in her suffering from urinary tract infections.
The sex abuse emerged after a family meeting on July 4, 2021, when Ms O’Shaughnessy’s aunt, Helen Costelloe, disclosed she had been sexually abused by O’Mahony from when she was aged nine to 15.
When Joan O’Mahony asked her daughter if she believed Ms Costelloe’s claims, Ms O’Shaughnessy replied that she did and disclosed she too had been abused by O’Mahony.
‘REAL CONCERN’
After the meeting “there was a real concern in the family about people knowing,” said Ms Buckley.
Three days later, on July 7, 2021, O’Mahony, accompanied by his wife, presented himself at Henry Street Garda Station and told gardai he was “handing himself in”.
Ms Costelloe said O’Mahony started sexually abusing her when he moved into her family home after marrying her sister who was 12 years her senior.
O’Mahony, a former rent collector with Limerick County Council, also sexually assaulted Ms Costelloe in his car on his work rounds collecting rent around Limerick.
‘PROFOUND IMPACT’
The sex attacks on Ms Costelloe, now aged 52, eventually stopped, when aged 14, she fought back after O’Mahony forced himself on her while she was attending a public toilet cubicle during one of their work trips together.
Ms Costelloe told the court the sexual abuse left a “profound impact” on her life.
She said the “complex trauma” she suffered “seeped into every crevice” of her life, and her “innocence as a child was robbed”.
O’Mahony, who showed no emotion in court, said through his barrister he did not disagree with any of the evidence against him.
He was remanded in custody for sentencing tomorrow.
Christopher O’Mahony, 67, of Kerrykyle, Ardagh, Co Limerick, sexually assaulted both of them when they were children[/caption]
