MAN WHO USED STEPDAUGHTER AS 'PLAYTOY' AND RAPED HER ON NIGHT OF DEBS BALL NAMED
A Wexford man who “coldly engaged in a campaign of rape” against his stepdaughter from when she was a child has been jailed for 17 years.Alec Goucher (70) was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court of 25 counts related to the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter Elizabeth Usher between 2000 and 2007, including sexual assault, rape, and section 4 rape with an implement.
She was around 11 years old when the abuse began.
Goucher, of Lower George's Street, Wexford, continues to deny the offending and does not accept the jury's verdicts.
Ms Usher waived her anonymity so Goucher could be named.
The trial took place in Waterford in January and a sentencing hearing was held in Dublin last February, with finalisation delayed for months due to defence psychiatric report preparations.
Goucher has been in custody since the trial.
Prosecuting counsel Eoghan Cole SC described Goucher as “coldly engaged in a campaign of rape” with a “remorseless attitude,” noting he raped her from about age 13 or 14, and regularly twice a week from age 15 or 16, as part of his “paedophiliac grooming.” The abuse eroded her self-esteem, making her unable to verbally refuse sex even as a young adult, the prosecution said.
Goucher poisoned her relationship with her father and groomed her from early age when she came to live with him and her mother.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Usher said Goucher made her live with them and treated her “like I was a playtoy, not a human being,” and that reporting him was the toughest thing she ever did.
Sentencing, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor described his manipulation as “most callous,” exposing her to “gratuitous sexual perversion,” including using a sex toy and raping her the night of her Debs ball, a key milestone.
She emphasized his no remorse and limited mitigation, sentencing him to 17 years, backdated to custody.
After the sentence, Goucher called out “I did not do anything,” but the judge responded dismissively, “This man has taken enough of our time and I am not engaging.”
