Hamed Azeez was treated as a parent inside a Dublin family. A Central Criminal Court jury found that he instead raped one young girl and sexually assaulted both her and her sister while they were in his care. The court imposed an eleven-year prison term.

2Young sisters abused.
6Counts resulting in guilty verdicts.
11 yearsEffective concurrent sentence.
~€1.09mGross prison-space benchmark.

Abuse inside a relationship of trust

Azeez, then 53 and living in Tallaght, had been the long-term partner of the girls’ mother. Garda evidence described him as effectively in loco parentis: the children were in his care and he occupied a parental position of trust.

The offending occurred at locations in County Dublin between 2013 and 2015. The first girl was aged between six and eight. The second was between eight and ten. A jury convicted Azeez in March 2024 of raping the first child, three counts of sexually assaulting her and two counts of sexually assaulting her sister.

The reported evidence included a rape at his home and sexual assaults disguised at first as horseplay, including incidents under a blanket and one in his car after collecting a child from school. These are jury verdicts, not untested accusations. Both survivors asked that Azeez be named while retaining their own anonymity.

What the sentencing judge found

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon identified the girls’ ages, Azeez’s position of trust and the damage caused as central features. She set headline sentences of twelve years for the rape and eight years for the sexual assaults. The judge found very little mitigation: Azeez continued to reject the verdicts, made no apology and did not acknowledge the harm.

The court reduced each headline by one year and imposed concurrent sentences of eleven years and seven years. Concurrent means they run together; the effective sentence is eleven years, not eighteen. Azeez was also ordered onto the sex-offender register.

The human cost

The survivor raped as a child described lasting fear around older men and damage to her relationship with her mother. Her sister described isolation, anxiety and the burden of wondering whether knowing more about sexual abuse might have helped her protect them both. The judgment cannot return the childhood safety that was taken from either girl.

Migration record: what is established

Court reporting states that Azeez moved to Ireland in 2000 and had a long work history. That documented move is the eligibility basis for this case file. The located reports do not state his birthplace, nationality, citizenship or immigration permission. This page therefore does not infer any of those facts from his name.

The defence also referred to previous convictions dating back more than twenty years, but the located reporting does not give their number or nature. They should not be embellished into a criminal history the public record does not supply.

Chronology

  • 2000: Azeez moved to Ireland, according to evidence reported at sentence.
  • 2013–2015: The rape and sexual assaults occurred in County Dublin.
  • March 2024: A Central Criminal Court jury returned guilty verdicts on one rape count and five sexual-assault counts.
  • 22 July 2024: Concurrent terms of eleven and seven years were imposed; sex-offender registration was ordered.
  • 6 August 2026: No later appeal outcome was located in the sources checked for this file.

Taxpayer exposure

The 2024 Irish Prison Service annual average of €99,072 per available staffed prison space produces a gross eleven-year benchmark of €1,089,792.

This is a policy benchmark, not an invoice or a claim that every euro is marginal spending caused by one prisoner. It does not account for remission or sentence dating and excludes Garda investigation, prosecution, legal aid, court administration, healthcare, post-release supervision and services needed by the survivors.

Questions the State should answer

  1. What safeguarding information was available while Azeez occupied a parental role in the girls’ lives?
  2. What were the earlier convictions mentioned at sentence, and were they relevant to child protection or vetting?
  3. What supervision and treatment will be required before any release?
  4. Has his present citizenship and immigration status been established for post-sentence planning?
  5. Who is accountable for ensuring the survivors can access long-term, trauma-informed support?

The lesson is not that a name supplies a nationality. It does not. The documented lesson is that two children were abused by a man trusted with their care, the jury convicted him, and the State is now carrying an eleven-year custodial sentence after the damage was done.

Sources

Record checked: 6 August 2026.