It's my job to rape you

8 years for rape and abuse which began when one sister was just nine

- PAUL HEALY

Crawled into bedroom 'like a snake' and said 'this is what brothers do'

Women tell court of nightmares and life-long trauma due to assaults

THIS former priest now joins his brother in prison after admitting the systematic historic rape and abuse of his sisters.

Richard Brennan, formerly of Rathfarnham in Dublin, but who in recent years resided in the US, was yesterday jailed to eight years in prison.

It was after pleading guilty to 24 charges consisting of six charges of rape and 18 indecent assaults of Paula Fay, Catherine Wrightstone and Yvonne Crist, from dates in 1978 to 1985.

Richard, 64, who was a seminarian when he started abusing Ms Wrightstone when she was nine, can now be unmasked.

As too can his brother Bernard, 67, who himself pleaded guilty in June to 11 counts of indecent assault of his sisters in various locations within Ireland between 1972 and 1975.

The court heard how Richard told then child Ms Wrightstone "this is my job" and "this is what brothers do" as he abused her. His sisters each delivered victim impact statements where they also spoke of how he used priesthood to hide who he really was.

Ms Wrightstone said: "You hid behind the Church's mantle like a sheep in wolf's clothing masking menace with meekness and depravity with sanctity."

Judge David Keane yesterday sentenced Richard to nine years in prison with one year suspended. The individual sentences for each charge will run concurrently.

He was given some credit in mitigation for his guilty plea - nine days into his trial - and a letter of apology he had written last month in which he expressed his "sorrow" and "generational harm" he had caused.

In his sentencing hearing, Richard blamed Bernard, who he said also abused him and 'encouraged' him to engage in abusing his sisters.