A Co Mayo man has been jailed for 11 and a half years for abusing five children over a period spanning almost two decades.
David Langdon (61) of St Patrick’s Estate, Ballina, pleaded guilty days before his scheduled trial at Castlebar Circuit Court last year to seven sample counts of sexual assaulting the young girls.
The abuse took place between April 1996 and July 2015, during which time each child believed they were Langdon’s only victim, the court heard.
The abuse was disclosed to gardaí in 2019 by the youngest victim, who was still a minor at the time.
At a sentence hearing, the court heard Langdon was known to the victims, who requested that he be named in media coverage while retaining their own anonymity.
The girls were aged between five and 12 years’ old when the offending took place.
Passing sentence, Judge Sinéad McMullan noted that much of the abuse happened during sleepovers, when these children “should have felt safe in their beds”.
She said to this day, many of the victims are afraid of the dark and unable to be alone, with one woman still too scared to go downstairs during the night to make bottles for her children.
Judge McMullan said the offences ranged between the upper range and the middle range of seriousness and represented an egregious breach of trust.
The judge cited evidence given during earlier hearings, including from one victim who said that during nine out of 10 sleepovers she had as a child, Langdon had put his fingers into her vagina.
This woman described an incident when Langdon brought her into his bedroom and kept pushing his penis into her vagina. She said it was “very sore” and only stopped when the accused’s wife shouted upstairs and asked what was happening.
Another victim described Langdon driving her to a private country road before removing her underwear and forcing her to masturbate him.
A different woman described waking up at the age of seven to find Langdon trying to put his penis in her mouth.
Each woman gave a victim impact statement, with four victims saying the abuse had pushed them to suicide attempts and/or self-harm.
“He destroyed us all,” said one woman, saying that as a child she wondered “Why me?” and felt it might have been her fault.
Another woman told the court her childhood was taken away from her and that her parents were heartbroken when they found out. She described lashing out and hitting walls as a young, vulnerable girl and says she was “always looking out for danger”.
A third woman told the court that she was “taught to be afraid from a very young age” and that her heart was shattered when she found out that there were more victims other than herself.
Another woman said her childhood was stolen by Langdon and she lost interest in everything. She said the abuse has caused her to lose friendships and put a strain on her marriage, and that even the smallest household sound can trigger flashbacks and panic attacks for her.
Another woman who gave evidence by videolink said she didn’t get a chance to grow up safely or normally, describing how she developed an eating disorder, substance abuse issues and suffers from complex PTSD.
She said the abuse “affects how she moves through the world each day”, and that she spends her life “trying to rebuilt what was broken”.
Langdon has six previous convictions including drink-driving and larceny. The court heard his marriage has broken down and he is now considered a “pariah” in the community.
Diarmuid Connolly BL, defending, said Langdon was deeply ashamed and realised the harm he has caused.
Langdon suffers from arthritis, the court heard.
Judge McMullan set a headline sentence of 16 years but reduced this to 12 and a half years, with the final 12 months suspended.
The sentence was backdated to October 29 last year, when Langdon went into custody.