A 65-year-old Co Waterford man who has been described as a monster by one of his victims is to be sentenced in November for abusing three young girls in the 1980s.
Bartholomew Prendergast, who is also known as Bart or Batty, from Dungarvan will be sentenced later this year after pleading guilty to charges of rape and sexual abuse.
The abuse happened when the girls were aged between nine and 15.
The Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin heard evidence at the sentencing hearing of Prendergast, who last month pleaded guilty to 17 counts of rape and sexual abuse against three young girls in west Waterford.
The court heard Prendergast worked for many years at Waterford County Council and is a well-known musician in the county.
Evidence was given that he abused Stephanie Hickey, now 46 and who lives in the Nire Valley but was originally from Touraneena; Deirdre Fahey, now 52, who lives near Clonmel; and another woman.
The court was told Ms Hickey was abused between the age of 12 and 15 and much of the abuse happened in the back of Prendergast's van and at locations at Touraneena, Tallow and Ballyduff Upper.
The court heard Ms Fahey was abused once when she was a teenager, while the abuse on the third woman started when she was nine.
In victim impact statements read to the court, all three said the abuse had seriously affected and ruined their lives. Ms Hickey described Prendergast as a monster.
The court was also told that a meeting, involving Prendergast, a number of others and a priest, took place when Ms Hickey was 13 or 14 and that counselling had been arranged for him but that the abuse continued afterwards.
A number of character references by friends and relatives of Prendergast were handed into the court and his counsel said there were mitigating factors, including the plea of guilty and pointed out that Prendergast's offending behaviour had ended in 1991.
There was no request for bail and Prendergast was remanded in custody to 26 November when he will be sentenced.
