Update 4pm: The Central Criminal Court has heard a 66-year-old man who was found guilty of repeatedly raping his son in Waterford is planning to appeal.

The boy, who was just six when the abuse began, now lives in the UK but says he hopes to return someday to ask his father why he abused him

Update 1.15pm: A 13-year-old boy, whose 66-year-old father repeatedly raped him nine times at their home in Waterford, has described him as Adolf Hitler.

His father’s sentence hearing has also heard how he wishes he was dead and is happy he’s now locked up.

In September 2011, the boy told specialist Gardaí that his father had beaten him up, thrashed him and kicked him. The allegations of sexual abuse were made during a follow-up interview a year later.

He also told them he locked him in a wooden cage-like box he’d built in his shed and left him there for hours.

His father was found guilty of nine counts of rape and one count of child cruelty. His mother was also convicted of child cruelty.

In a Victim Impact Statement read out on the boy’s behalf today, the court heard him describe his father as a horrible and cruel man. He described him as Adolf Hitler.

He said he wanted to meet him in the future to ask him why he took his childhood and forced him to leave Ireland. He said he hoped to return one day after he has emptied all the boxes in his mind and said au revoir to the memories.

His parents will be handed sentences next month.

Earlier: The sentence hearing is underway of a man who raped his son nine times at their Waterford home over a two-year period beginning in 2009.

The boy, who’s now 13, was taken into care after telling his teacher he was physically assaulted when he was just shy of his 8th birthday.

Aside from the rape charges, his father was also convicted of cruelty for locking him in a wooden box for up to three hours.

His mother was also convicted of child cruelty following a trial in April of this year.

Both will be handed sentences next month.