Eight visitors were allowed inside a jail cell of convicted rapist James O'Reilly.
That's according to staff in the Midlands Prison Service, where O'Reilly is currently serving a 20-year service after being convicted on 58 counts of rape and nine counts of sexual assault on his family over a 23-year period.
Over the course of his five-week trial in 2019, the court heard O’Reilly - with an address at Ballynonty, Thurles, Co Tipperary - was 34 when he raped his first victim – his 13-year-old sister. Over the next three years, he regularly attacked her in a van.
"Anything could have happened" one member of the prison staff told the Irish Examiner today, saying that "nowhere in the rules was this allowed."
It is understood, due to O'Reilly's illness, the visitors were allowed on compassionate grounds. However, with many other dangerous criminals in the prison, the safety of the visitors were also a concern for prison staff, who are operating on a 'skeleton staff' after 7.30 in the evening.
The court also heard during his trial that he had raped one of his daughters while his wife was having a miscarriage, while the rape of one daughter caused her to become pregnant in late 1988. He continued to rape her during the pregnancy.
At the time O’Reilly told his daughter to allege she had been raped by another man. He continued abusing her and only stopped when she threatened him with a knife.
Judge Tony Hunt considered handing down the maximum life sentence, but given O’Reilly’s poor health, he decided on a 20-year jail term – potentially amounting to a life sentence given his age.
"It makes me angry" his daughter Helen O'Donoghue, who was also raped and abused, told the Liz Dunphy of the Irish Examiner today.
"He took our lives from us, he took our dignity, he took our right to education.
"He gave us no special treatment, why should he get special treatment now?"
The Irish Prison Service declined to comment to the paper.
