Mother tells of her anguish after the pervert who molested her child gets probation
A MOTHER who pleaded with a judge to jail the pervert who molested her daughter told yesterday of her devastation when the man was allowed to walk free.
Mark Taaffe, 25, was given probation even though he had regularly committed gross indecency on the woman’s five-year-old girl for more than a year.
Judge John Burke QC claimed the youngster had not suffered permanent damage. But the 31-year-old mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wept as she said: “That judge does not know the facts – he’s totally out of touch.
“My little girl is still waking up with nightmares. How can he say that she has not been traumatised?
“The judge, social services and police have all let us down.
“Taaffe has abused my daughter and he walks free from court. All his punishment is that he has lost his job.
“It’s a sick joke. When the police interviewed my daughter on tape she did not even know what Taaffe did was wrong.
“She was embarrassed and would not talk because she said it was rude.
“Now they say because she didn’t tell them everything or cry during the interview that shows she has not been affected.
“It stinks – he stole my child’s innocence.
“Taaffe has shown no remorse, he’s laughing at us.
“He’s caused so much damage to my family – this is a serious crime, there should be a mandatory prison sentence for child abuse.”
Taaffe, a van driver, molested the girl at HIS mother’s home in Salford, Lancs, when she was a foster parent providing respite care for handicapped children.
The woman was looking after the Down’s Syndrome sister of the abuse victim.
Taaffe secretly assaulted the five-year-old when she arrived with her mum to visit the handicapped girl.
When Salford social services first placed children with Taaffe’s mother in 1991 police checks revealed her son had no convictions.
But in May 1995 Taaffe was convicted of common assault on a woman and given a 12-month conditional discharge.
And in January 1997 he was convicted of assaulting a man and given an eight-month suspended jail sentence.
The police officers who handled the cases were unaware Taaffe’s mother was a foster parent – and they did not alert social services.
Taaffe was arrested for molesting the five-year-old after her mum became suspicious.
He denied the accusations but caved in on the day his trial was due to start and pleaded guilty to two gross indecency charges.
The judge at Manchester Crown Court was not told about Taaffe’s previous convictions.
And when Taaffe’s lawyer claimed the abuse had caused no lasting effect on the girl her mother leapt to her feet and shouted: “That is not right, I’m sorry that is not right. She has had to have counselling.”
Judge Burke adjourned the case to find out the impact of the assaults on the girl. But on Friday when Taaffe appeared for sentence the judge ignored the mum’s plea.
He gave Taaffe three years’ probation, ordered him to sign the Sex Offender’s Register and to have treatment for his paedophile tendencies.
The distraught mum said afterwards: “It’s affected my relationship with my husband and totally devastated my family.
“I have good and bad days. Sometimes I can be just washing the dishes and my mind wanders and I think about what he has done and I think, ‘That bastard’ – I just start crying.”
She told how cunning Taaffe had managed to molest her daughter.
She said: “Upstairs he had a video library and the children would go up to watch videos.
“While I was downstairs drinking tea and chatting with his mum, Taaffe was abusing my daughter – it is just unbelievable.”
She added: “She used to be a very bright young girl, very quick and straight into everything.
“But after the abuse she just fell to pieces.”
Judge Burke, who has three daughters himself, said in court he had watched the video-taped police interviews with care.
He said: “I look for trauma and I see none. She appears to be a self confident little girl – every picture tells a story.
“I must take into account the mother’s views but I am not persuaded that I should change tack on the sentence.
“Having been advised that the complainant was not traumatised and the defendant can be weaned away from this sort of behaviour, I stand by my recommendation of three years’ probation.”
An inquiry has been launched by social services with the aim of tightening vetting procedures.
