Sex abuse victim condemns father's 27-month sentence

A WOMAN who was sexually abused by her father has condemned the sentence handed down as she told of the ordeal he inflicted on her as a child.

Gillian Keogh was abused for five years by father Ronald, starting when she was eight.

The mother-of-two waived her right to anonymity after her father was jailed for 27 months.

Ms Keogh, 42, went to the police in 2006 after being encouraged to seek justice by her husband.

Her father had protested his innocence, leaving Ms Keogh facing the prospect of reliving her ordeal in court. But 10 minutes before his trial was to start last month the 73-year-old changed his plea.

Ms Keogh said: "I want everyone to know what kind of man my father is and what he did. I felt confused when it happened. Any child would - to be woken up in the night with your father touching you in that way. I would say, 'leave me alone or I will tell mum'. (But) I could not go to my mother. Whenever I told her anything she would say to stop bothering her and she had her own problems."

Keogh ,of Croydon, was charged with 20 counts of sexual molestation. He admitted eight and the remainder were placed on file. He was jailed for 27 months. If the offences had taken place after a change in the law in 2003, police said he could have received 11 years.

Ms Keogh said: "His sentence was rubbish, but I'm glad it's over. I want to encourage anyone who has been abused to come forward, even if it happened years ago."

She said she wished her mother, Maureen Collins, who has remarried, had been prosecuted. "I went to my mother's house to prove I was telling the truth and she slammed the door in my face and called me a liar. She still hasn't acknowledged what he did to me. It's a shame she couldn't stand in the dock with him."

Mrs Collins says she knew nothing of the abuse. "I did not, and she knows I did not. If I knew anything went on I would have left him and taken him to court ."