Sophia's Story
Biography
2004
199
In 1995 Joseph McColgan was arrested in the West of Ireland, he was dubbed ‘The West of Ireland’ farmer by the newspapers. Over a period of 15 years he had repeatedly raped, assaulted and physically abused his wife and six children, as news of his appalling treatment of his family came to light the public wanted questions answered; how did he get away with it for so long? Why did no-one come to the families aid?
His eldest daughter Sophia was only six when McColgan first raped her and for fifteen years she fought to escape from him. It has taken immense courage on the part of Sophia and her family to bring the murky, hidden world of family child abuse to the public gaze.
In 1998 Susan McKay published Sophia’s Story, told by Sophia it recounts the harrowing truth of how it was to be a daughter of Joseph McColgan.
Joseph McColgan was sentenced to 225 years in prison, because the sentence will run concurrently he will be released in March 2004; he will have served less than nine years – less than half the time he spent raping and terrorising his own children.
Sophia’s Story is an autobiography that will truly make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. McKay has recorded the events without embellishing the truth, the book is well written and in a very factual tone the reader can experience the harrowing childhood of Sophia McColgan.
Not nice bed time reading but the truth should always be told. 
