Irish father who sexually abused his sister and seven daughters dies in jail

A notorious rapist who sexually abused his sister and seven daughters has died in prison with one of his children saying he should rot in hell.

The Irish Daily Star reports that depraved beast James O’Reilly, 77, who was jailed for 20 years in 2020 after conviction for 58 counts of rape, died in the Midlands Prison on Monday after a long illness.

One of his victims, daughter Bridget O’Donoghue, took to social media to vent her frustration, saying her father got “such an easy way out.”

She wrote, “That you may rot in hell. You got 20 years for raping your seven daughters and your own sister you sick c*** and you only did two years.

“You died a lonely disgusting man. I’ll never forgive you for what you did to me and all my sisters. Rot in hell you dirty bastard. You got away too light.”

During the harrowing rape trial two years ago, the court heard another daughter Helen O’Donoghue tell how her father, from Thurles, Co. Tipperary, took everything away from her as she was raped, starved and beaten by him all her life.

She told the Star, “We’re still suffering. He put us through and he found a way out and we’re still here fighting.  All the suffering, abuse and pain we went through has only made us stronger people.”

She added, “He will never make it to the gates of heaven for what he did to us and what he put us through.”

During his 27-day trial, the court heard how the abuse took place between 1977 and 2000 and how O'Reilly raped one daughter, which caused her to become pregnant in late 1988. He continued to rape her during the pregnancy.

 O’Reilly was aged around 34 when he raped the first victim, his 13-year-old younger sister. He abused her for the next three years, attacking her in a van.

He first abused the second victim, his daughter, when her mother was in hospital having suffered a miscarriage. His daughter was aged between four and six.

One victim, who was raped until she was aged 20, said she couldn't tell her husband because “saying you are being raped (as a) traveller is like being thrown to the side of the road, you’d have to go back to the bog.”

Kathleen O’Driscoll said she could remember her father abusing her from her earliest childhood memories. She said she prayed each night that she would not wake up.

Helen told the trial how she was powerless to help her sisters from being abused. “It was worse when you can’t stop it, and it’s your sister. We had to mind each other. We didn’t know we could do anything about it,” she said. 

Here is footage of his daughters outside court following his sentencing in 2020:

‘Come forward and ‘don’t be afraid’ - Helen, whose father James O'Reilly was jailed for 20 years for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his seven daughters and his younger sister, appeals to other victims of abuse. More @rtenews. pic.twitter.com/jxwnEXs8CD

— RTÉ (@rte) June 15, 2020