A 13-year-old boy who was raped by his father in Co Waterford said he was angry that his mother stayed with his abuser, but described her as a kind woman despite that.

His mother, who cannot be named to protect her son’s identity, was convicted of child cruelty last month following a seven-week trial.

The boy is now 13 and living in a specialised facility in the UK.

In a short victim-impact statement read out on his behalf today, he said he doesn’t think his mother did anything wrong, and said he still has a picture of her by his bed.

He described her as a kind woman who was manipulated by his father, but said he was angry she didn’t take him away or place him in care before things got worse.

The boy’s father was found guilty on nine counts of rape at the family home in Waterford between 2009 and 2011, when the boy was aged six and seven.

He was also convicted of child cruelty for pushing his son into a wooden cage-like box, locking it and leaving him there for hours.

The court heard the boy’s mother comes from a difficult background.

When she was 17, she married her mother’s boyfriend – a man she claims abused her from the age of seven.

She will be sentenced with the boy’s father in October.