Abuse accused rejects charges as 'fantasy'
A man accused of sexually abusing his daughters has told his trial that his wife encouraged one of them to make certain allegations to “bolster her case of lies.”
Giving evidence in his own defence, he rejected all the charges as “absurd” and “pure fantasy” but suggested that one daughter may have been abused, “but certainly not by me.”
He has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to unlawful carnal knowledge, buggery and 19 charges of indecent assault against one daughter and 25 counts of indecent assault against another between 1975 and 1981.
The accused rejected allegations that he was a drunken violent man and said he rarely drank alcohol. He also alleged that his wife got him fired from his job so she could go back to work.
He told defence counsel, Mr Blaise O’Carroll SC, that he could not understand why one of his daughters previously alleged that he had sexually abused his son.
He said he “never, ever” abused him and was shocked when his daughter confronted him about it.
“I suggest her mother put her up to it to bolster her case of lies,” he told Mr O’Carroll.
He said he worked for a company in Dublin while his wife stayed home with the children and that she got him fired and the company shut down using her contacts in the civil service. He said she did this so she could go back to work.
He told the jury that he believed “something” had happened to one of his daughters but said it was nothing to do with him. He said there were frequently neighbours in the house at the time, some of whom he objected to.
He said he told his wife to stop letting these people near the girl but she dismissed this and told her daughter to associate with who she wanted.
The trial continues before Mr Justice George Birmingham and a jury of six men and five women.
