A man who drugged his daughter and her friends during a sleepover before raping one of her friends during a purported game of hide and seek in the woods has been jailed for 15 years and six months.

When the 47-year-old father's phone was seized by gardaí, they found encrypted vault footage of him raping the same girl when she was passed out at a previous sleepover a week earlier, as well as child abuse images of her, his older daughter and two more of his daughters' teenage friends.

The man pleaded guilty to eight sample counts at the Central Criminal Court pertaining to five victims – his two teenage daughters, his younger daughter's two friends and a friend of his older girl.

He admitted two counts of raping his younger daughter's 15-year-old friend and one count of sexually assaulting her, one count of child sexual exploitation by having sexual intercourse in front of another girl, one count of child cruelty by drugging the children and three counts of possessing child pornography, as it is referred to in law.

He has no previous convictions. The offences occurred on dates between June 2024 and July 2025 at the man's Leinster home.

Imposing sentence on Friday, Judge Sean Gillane said the court’s function was to impose a sentence on behalf of the community and was “not an act of vengeance”.

He said the court viewed the man’s level of culpability as “extremely high” and that there were “a number of sadly habitual features” in this case which often come before the court in similar cases.

“Breach of trust in my view does not do justice to what happened here and risks becoming something of an empty incantation,” the judge said, describing the man’s actions as an “orchestrated betrayal” of trust and relationships, which rippled out from his children and former partner to his children’s friends.

The judge said this was not casual and that the man was manipulative and methodical in his offending, “targeting the friendships his children had innocently developed”.

He said the “deliberate and calculated” recording and storage of the first rape was also aggravating, along with the man’s “complete lack of remorse” in the immediate aftermath of the second rape and “appalling remarks he made”.

The judge noted that the court had “no forensic explanation” for the cause of the man’s offending or his interest in children.

Having considered the mitigation, the judge imposed a global sentence of 17 years, with the final 18 months suspended for five years on strict conditions which include probation supervision.

The man made no reaction as the sentence was imposed, and he entered his bond.

Mr Justice Gillane noted the presence in court of some of the girls’ parents. He said they were also victims in the “true broad sense”.

“One can only imagine the torture they have put themselves through,” the judge said, noting they must have questioned themselves many times. He said the court hoped that “today offers some finality”.

*If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112. *