Legal argument continues in trial of Clare man
The trial of a Clare man accused of sexually assaulting his two daughters is continuing with legal arguement in the absence of the jury at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The 36-year-old man, who is originally from County Clare and cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault on the girls, on dates between September 2001 and December 2004 in a Co Offaly town.
Earlier the court heard evidence via video-link from one his elder daughter who told prosecuting counsel, Ms Úna Ní Raifeartaigh BL, that she couldn't remember how her father behaved when he was minding her while her mother was at work.
The man's other daughter had previously given evidence that her father used his penis to put cream on a rash on her bottom.
She said she was aged between four and five when the alleged offences took place and told Ms Ní Raifeartaigh that her father used to lie on top of her on the bed and push her head onto the pillow.
She said he would do this to her every night her mother was at work. Earlier she told how she noticed that her father used to be kind to her but that he became "evil" and "turned into an unkind evil daddy."
"He'd hurt us a lot and he didn't used to," she said.
She told defence counsel, Mr John Phelan SC, in cross-examination, that she had previously said her father used the cream when she was "a baby" and in further reply to counsel she replied: "A baby is until the age of two."
The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan with a jury of five women and seven men.
