Belfast - The brother of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was on Wednesday jailed for 16 years for raping his own daughter in a case that raised questions about whether the politician could have alerted police earlier to the abuse.
Liam Adams, 58, was convicted at Belfast Crown Court last month of rape and sexual abuse charges against his daughter Aine in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when she was aged between four and nine.
Sentencing Liam Adams, judge Corinne Philpott told the former youth worker that he had committed the “greatest breach of trust imaginable”.
The case has put pressure on Gerry Adams, a key figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, to explain why he did not alert authorities to the allegations against his younger brother when he first learned of them.
Gerry Adams said during a first trial which collapsed earlier this year that he heard of the sex abuse claims in 1987 and that his brother admitted his guilt in 2000, but his statements to police were made in 2007 and 2009.
Liam Adams had handed himself in to police in the Republic of Ireland in 2010 after police across the border in Northern Ireland issued a European arrest warrant. He was extradited in 2011.
Northern Ireland's police watchdog is investigating whether detectives properly examined whether Gerry Adams covered up his brother's crimes and the police service in the province has vowed to review the case.
Gerry Adams, who is now a lawmaker in the Republic of Ireland, says he has committed no offence and has accused political rivals of exploiting a family matter to attack him.
Since 1983, Gerry Adams has been the leader of the republican, socialist Sinn Fein party which is seeking union between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom.
He was elected as a member of the Dail, the Irish parliament, in 2011.
Sapa-AFP