A woman who suffered years of abuse at the hands of her uncle has told of her shock when he was accommodated under a false name in a local hotel alongside children following his release from prison.
asserted
he → suffer → prison
Sonya Stokes also described how she was ignored as a child when she begged for help while she was being abused by the man who had a long history of offending in both Ireland and Britain.
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who → describe → Ireland
The survivor told the Irish Mail on Sunday this week she is now determined to advocate for children who are not being heard.
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who → tell → children
Ms Stokes’s uncle and serial rapist Joseph Hogan, from Rose Court, Keys Park, Limerick, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2015 for raping her over a four year period in the 1980s.
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uncle → sentence → 1980s
The child rapist – who died late last year – had already been jailed in the UK in the 1970s for the indecent assault of a young girl.
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who → die → girl
Hogan was released in March 2025 and Ms Stokes told the MoS how she received a terrifying call from a woman she was supporting through her advocacy services, who was living at a hotel used to accommodate homeless people.
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who → release → people
The woman told her she was staying on the same corridor of the popular hotel as the released offender.
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she → tell → offender
She recognised Hogan from photographs on Ms Stoke’s social media posts.
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She → recognise → posts
Ms Stokes immediately contacted the hotel and spoke with the manager who told her Hogan was staying at the hotel under a different name.
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Hogan → contact → name
The manager asked him to leave the hotel immediately.
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manager → ask → hotel
Ms Stokes says the event raised a ‘fundamental question’ about safeguarding and post-release supervision.
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event → say → safeguarding
‘How can somebody assessed as high risk be placed in a hotel where families and children are staying without the people responsible for the accommodation knowing who they are dealing with?’ she asked.
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she → assess → who
Ms Stokes said concerns about Hogan’s behaviour and offending already existed before the abuse on her began to the extent a protest was held calling for him to be removed from the area.
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him → say → area
Her parents worked and during a period when her mother was seriously ill with cancer, Sonya was cared for after school by her grandmother and other relatives.
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Sonya → work → grandmother
She remembers growing up surrounded by cousins where there were happy memories but also terrible fear.
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She → remember → cousins
Sonya Stokes also described how she was ignored as a child when she begged for help while she was being abused by the man who had a long history of offending in both Ireland and Britain
The mother-of-five remembers being dragged upstairs by Hogan at her grandmother’s home as a child and hiding underneath coats hanging in the hallway because she was terrified.
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she → describe → hallway
‘I used to dread it when Nana told us to go into the garden to play because I knew what was going to happen.’
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what → use → garden
The now 48-year-old, who was sexually abused, raped and molested repeatedly between the ages of seven and 11, said she was once the child who had ‘no voice’.
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who → abuse → voice
Ms Stokes told how she and a cousin tried to tell other relatives what was happening, but were ignored.
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what → tell → relatives
‘We tried to tell them.
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We → try → them
We didn’t know how to explain everything, but we tried.
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we → know → everything
‘We were told to shut up and go out and play.
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We → tell → ?
So we went back out to play.’
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we → go → ?
That memory has stayed with Ms Stokes.
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memory → stay → Stokes
‘Looking back now, that is one of the things that breaks my heart.
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that → look → heart
We were children trying to say something wasn’t right, and we weren’t heard.’
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we → try → ?
Ms Stokes told how she was finally heard when she met Garda Alison Carroll as an adult and remains ‘deeply grateful’ to her and the investigating team that handled her case.
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that → tell → case
Her perpetrator was extradited from a UK prison to Ireland in January 2014 by the gardaí and placed on remand.
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perpetrator → extradite → remand
‘I remember the relief.
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I → remember → relief
I knew he couldn’t hurt another child while he was behind bars.’
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he → know → bars
A spokesperson for the Probation Service said that while the service does not comment on individual cases, ‘the notification requirements of sex offenders are set out in the Sex Offenders Act 2001 and include a specific requirement to notify An Garda Síochána of any use of an alias or use of another name’.
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requirements → say → name
‘Failure to notify is an offence under the Act,’ they said.
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they → notify → Act
‘Offenders must follow specific conditions set out in the court order, which aim to aid rehabilitation and protect the public.
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which → follow → public
Failure to comply with any specified condition of a court order can result in the offender being brought back before the court and may result in a return to custody.’
Ms Stokes, who runs the survivor-led advocacy group Victim’s Voices, has found herself supporting people who are experiencing their own trauma.
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who → comply → trauma
‘I never planned this life.
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I → plan → life
I never set out to become a campaigner.
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I → set → ?
But if I can take something horrific that happened to me and turn it into something that protects another child or helps another woman, then I have to do it.’
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I → take → it
She is the Laois coordinator for Walk In Our Shoes, an event taking place around the country next weekend which is campaigning for change for children who have experienced failures when seeking justice and protection.
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who → walk → justice
Ms Stokes said she will stand alongside birth mothers, survivors and families who feel they have been forgotten.
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they → say → mothers
‘I am walking for people who couldn’t walk by themselves.
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who → walk → themselves
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
