A court heard yesterday that two daughters of former IRA Commander Joe McCann were sexually abused by a relative in County Galway following their father’s murder.
Mr. McCann was murdered by British soldiers in 1972 in Belfast.
In the following years, after constant harassment from the British Army, RUC and Provisional IRA, Anne McCann (widow to the deceased) brought her six children to live with her sister’s family near to Gort in County Galway.
In what should have been a safe and secure location, Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard that sisters Áine and Nuala McCann were abused by their uncle.
The accused, Francis McCann, was married to Anne McCann’s sister Mary. He was not related to the late Joe McCann despite sharing the same surname.
The 79 year old denied two charged of indecently assaulting Áine and Nuala McCann, but in March of this year, six years after a Garda investigation began, McCann plead guilty on the second day of his trial at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.
The court heard that the two women were aged around 11 or 12 when the sexual abuse took place.
Judge Brian O’Callaghan outlined that the maximum sentence in each of the two convictions was two years, and sentenced Francis McCann to 14 months imprisonment in relation to one of the charges, and eight months to the other, with the sentences to run concurrently.
