A MUM whose former partner raped and abused her children has revealed how he groomed her to “gain access to my children through me”.
Georgina Tuohey branded Brendan Cornally, 51, a “monster” who left her wanting to die because she could not cope with the devastation his horror abuse caused.
And she said the predator has left her family with a “lifelong sentence” while he is “protected” behind bars in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, Co Laois, before his eventual release back into society in 12 years’ time.
In an interview with The Irish Sun, Georgina told how no words can describe what pervert Cornally’s actions have done to her as a mother.
Georgina told us: “He raped my children and then I got into bed with him. Do you understand what that might do to someone?
“You self-loathe, you hate yourself. You feel you’re not good for anything. I am so angry.”
The Kildare woman is now channelling her anger to battle for new legislation — Francis’ Law — which seeks to get electronic tagging for those convicted of rape but who have time shaved off their headline sentence in mitigation.
It is named after one of her sons, who has special needs and was repeatedly raped by evil Cornally.
She said: “Until somebody actually makes changes in the law, people like me and my family, specifically my children, we’re just one of the faceless names that go into the backlog of horrendous stories.”
Georgina met Cornally in 2009 through a boxing club he was involved in.
And in the early years, she felt he had become a father figure to her kids, while also caring for his own parents and being involved in education and boxing.
But looking back now, Georgina reckons the perv knew exactly what he was doing.
She said: “He became what he needed to be in order to groom the likes of myself and to gain access to my children. It was to gain access to my children through me.”
Their relationship subsequently ended and Georgina and her kids moved to Kildare from Tullamore, Co Offaly.
But as a single mum, she was working and sent her boys to Cornally’s home town for the weekends as she trusted him.
It was in 2018 when one of Georgina’s sons told her about the abuse he had suffered at the hands of the beast, before his brother and sister disclosed that they too had been victims of his vile acts.
‘I COULDN’T COPE WITH THE PAIN’
Georgina went to the Gardai and reported it.
But it changed her life forever, as she told us: “There were times I wanted to die because I just couldn’t cope with the pain.”
Vile Cornally was first jailed for ten years for the sexual abuse and rape of one of Georgina’s sons between 2015 and 2019. The boy was aged between ten and 14 at the time.
The twisted beast was then jailed for an extra 21 months last July after pleading to the sexual assault of her daughter between May 2012 and June 2014, when the girl was aged between 13 and 15 years old.
In March, Cornally was further jailed for five years and nine months after admitting to four sample charges of raping Francis in 2018 when he was 13.
The sentence left Georgina outraged, with an overall sentence of 17.5 years.
But in reality the beast will be out in 12, with his release date set for 2037, after the Irish Prison Service informed Georgina it will include the 25 per cent standard remission given to well-behaved inmates.
SON IN ‘CATATONIC STATE’ AFTER ABUSE
By contrast, son Francis’ life has been “altered forever” by the abuse.
He was diagnosed as a child with learning difficulties and autism.
And the lad had done well to overcome challenges and finished his Leaving Cert Applied.
But after his interviews with cops, and in the run up to the trial, he went into a “catatonic state”.
Georgina said: “Francis’s life is altered forever. He’s like a two-year-old. This young man did his Leaving Cert two years ago. He can’t even cross the road anymore.
“He doesn’t know how to wash himself. You have to tell him. His prospects of friendship, relationships and employment are gone.
“That’s what this monster has done to my son.”
ELECTRONIC TAGGING DEMAND
Along with the sexual abuse, Francis was beaten, had his glasses removed so he couldn’t see and was even kept in a dark, damp room with the curtains closed while under the care of savage Cornally.
Georgina has issues with how the sentencing went, including how it heard Cornally’s guilty plea was the most valuable mitigating feature, which reduced the headline sentence from 15 years to 11.
But Georgina pointed out that Francis had to wait a number of years for a trial, only for Cornally to then enter a last-minute plea before trial, while during that time her son’s health declined.
Although Cornally never showed any remorse, he said sorry through his legal team, which Georgina believes added to his mitigation.
She now wants laws put in place to protect people from predators like Cornally through an electronic tagging system.
Georgina said: “If they’re going to get it, let them serve the mitigation years in society wearing a tag.
“It will prove that the guards know their whereabouts.
“The second thing is that for any other mother or father with children who go into relationships with offenders, they will know by the tag.
“The tag is there and the tag highlights them to be paedophiles.”
