A “predator” who repeatedly abused young girls over a 42-year-period in Clare will be sentenced next year.

At Ennis circuit court, Judge Francis Comerford adjourned the case of the 68-year-old Clare man to March 8, 2023.

The accused pleaded guilty to a total of 53 sample counts of indecent and sexual assault of three girls between 1976 and 2004.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims, also admitted one further count of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in the summer of 2018.

He was sent forward for trial on two books of evidence comprising 203 charges of indecent and sexual assault.

The man appeared in court this week via video link from prison where he is on remand.

Prosecuting counsel Lorcan Connolly BL, said evidence in the case was heard in November.

Counsel said a plea in mitigation on behalf of the accused has still to be heard.

Mr Connolly continued, “The bulk of the matter has been dealt with from an evidential point of view”.

Judge Comerford said it should be the first case on the list and set March 8 as the sentencing date.

During the first part of the sentencing hearing last month, Detective garda Conor Flaherty of the Clare garda division’s protective services unit (PSU) said the abuse came to light in July 2019 when a mother of one of the victims confronted the man at a family funeral.

The court heard evidence how one woman “remembered her uncle-in-law as being like a predator anytime he entered the house”.

In her victim impact statement, she said the man was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

She continued, “Instead of helping to nurture that 6-year-old me, he instead used me for his own disgusting sexual perversions. Not only did he sexually abuse me from the ages of 6-10, but he also emotionally tortured me with whispers of “nobody will believe you’, “if you tell anyone you’ll never see your family again”, “you’ll be left all alone”, “You know I love you”.

The court also heard details of the abuse perpetrated by the man against a girl his wife was childminder for.

She was six or seven when the abuse started at the man’s home between 2002 and 2004.

Mr Connolly told the court that in February 2021, a woman told gardaí her 10-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted by her cousin’s grandfather.

The incident took place when the girl stayed with her cousins on a date between July and August 2018.

In a victim impact statement, the girl’s mother said, “A mother is meant to protect her child or children at all cost from monsters like him and he has made me feel like I failed my daughter”.

Detective Flaherty told the court the man made certain admissions to gardaí but denied other allegations when they were put to him.

The court heard the man told gardaí the “devil made him do it”.

“I don’t know why I did it. It is the divil inside me”, he said.

Detective Flaherty said the man told gardaí “he was attracted to nine-year-old and 10-year-old girls”.