A man has been jailed for 11 years for raping a young girl and sexually assaulting her sister.
Hamed Azeez (53), of Mac Uilliam Dale, Tallaght, Dublin, was convicted following a Central Criminal Court trial in March of one count of rape and three counts of sexually assaulting the first victim, who was then aged between six and eight.
He was also found guilty of two counts of sexual assault in relation to the second girl, who was aged between eight and 10 at the time of the offending, which occurred on dates between 2013 and 2015 at locations in Co Dublin.
Both women have indicated they wish Azeez to be named but want to retain their anonymity.
Imposing sentence on Monday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Azeez had been in a long-term relationship with the girlsâ mother and the offending occurred while they were in his care and he was in a position of trust. He is no longer in a relationship with their mother.
Ms Justice Creedon said victim impact statements had outlined the effect of the abuse and that she was struck by how it had damaged the relationship between one of the victims and her mother. She set a headline sentence of 12 years for the rape offence and eight years for the sexual assault offences.
She said there was very little mitigation as Azeez does not accept the verdict of the jury nor has he offered an apology or acknowledged the harm he did to both women. He insists the allegations are false claims motivated by their motherâs desire to ruin his reputation.
Ms Justice Creedon reduced each sentence by one year before she imposed concurrent sentences of 11 years and seven years. She said Azeez should be registered as a sex offender.
A local garda previously gave evidence that Azeez was then the partner of the girlsâ mother and was effectively in loco parentis of the girls due to this relationship. He raped the first victim on a counter at his home. The girl said it did not last long and recalled that there were other children playing outside nearby.
He also sexually assaulted this girl by touching her inappropriately, which the court heard began as horseplay and often occurred under a blanket. One incident took place in the manâs car where he touched her on the genital area after picking her up from school.
Azeez also touched the girlâs sister inappropriately on the breasts and buttocks.
The allegations were later reported to gardaà and the accused denied any wrongdoing when he was interviewed.
In her victim impact statement, the first complainant said the pain Azeez caused âwill stay with me foreverâ. She said his actions left her no longer feeling safe in the company of older men.
She said the manâs actions had also damaged her relationship with her mother, whom she blames for what happened. She said there is âalways a wall between usâ and it is âpainful to know our bond is broken and may never heal because she brought [the man] into our lifeâ.
The second complainant said she is not just a victim of sexual assault, but a survivor. She said she distanced herself from loved ones after the abuse because she was âunwilling to express the extent of my suffering for fear of being disregarded or misunderstoodâ.
She said she âcouldnât shake the feeling that if Iâd known what sexual assault was sooner, my sister and I wouldnât have had to endure the harm we didâ. She said this thought led to âself loathingâ as she wondered what she could have done to protect her sister and herself.
However, the young woman wrote that she is now stronger after pulling herself out of the depths of trauma and will continue her journey towards healing.
The court heard that Azeez moved to Ireland in 2000 and has a long work history. Maurice Coffey SC, defending, said his clientâs previous convictions date back more than 20 years and he was co-operative with the criminal process. He asked the court to take into consideration Azeezâs history and personal circumstances as outlined in a probation report.
