A man accused of sexually abusing his partner's toddler, leaving her with a “severe” genital injury, told gardaí he was a “good father” to the little girl and her brother.
The 30-year-old Dublin man has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges involving sexual abuse and reckless endangerment of the little girl, as well as child cruelty to her and her brother, on dates between February and April 2018.
The girl was aged just under two and the boy was aged between two and three years’ old at the time of the alleged offences. The man cannot be named for legal reasons.
The court heard the little girl was brought to hospital in November 2017 by her mother and the accused man with a sudden onset of bruising when she was 18 months old. A number of tests ruled out any underlying conditions.
A Child Protection Unit garda told the trial a garda investigation got underway as a result of these suspected non-accidental injuries and Tusla also got involved with the family.
The court heard the accused man voluntarily attended his local garda station in January 2018 for questioning. During this garda interview, the man referred to the girl as his daughter. He described how he and his partner brought her to hospital in November 2017 because she was sick and her hair was falling out.
“I was thinking does my child have cancer?” he said.
At the time, the boy and girl's mother was pregnant with her third child – the accused man's first child with her. The man told gardaí their relationship was “very good, really happy”. He added that she was a “good mother”.
When asked how he coped with the kids when they were fighting, the man said he would “take a breather, count to 10”.
Sever injuries
When asked if he knew of anything that could have caused the bruising, the man said he did not know, before saying the girl fell out of her buggy one time. He also said there was a wooden toy box that she had hit her head on.
“I know (her mother) wouldn't harm (her) and neither would I,” he told gardaí.
The Child Protection Unit garda told the trial she next saw the man and the mother at a meeting with social workers in February 2018, during which she conveyed that the garda investigation was ongoing and a file was being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The garda said she was next contacted about the case when the girl was admitted to hospital on April 5th, 2018, where staff discovered she had a severe genital injury, extensive bruising and an old fractured wrist injury.
Two local gardaí told the trial that earlier on the same day, they were called to a Dublin shopping centre where a security guard alerted them to an incident involving a man and two small children, who had recently left the centre.
Shortly afterwards, the gardaí came across two small children standing outside an apartment complex door, the court heard. The little girl had bruising to her face, dried blood on her nose, was “shivering in the cold” and was holding on to her older brother's hand, the court heard. She was 23 months old and he was three years old at the time.
About two to three minutes later, the gardaí said the accused man appeared from a nearby security office. He told gardaí he had been locked out of his apartment. He seemed agitated and told the gardaí he was “a good father”, the court heard.
When asked about the bruising on the toddler's face, he said she had a medical condition and was receiving hospital treatment for it, the gardaí said.
Gardaí accompanied the man to the apartment, which they said was in a fair condition. The children's mother arrived home shortly afterwards with her newborn. She seemed concerned about the children, the court heard.
Tusla
The gardaí said they were satisfied the children were not in immediate danger and left the apartment, with the intention of getting in touch with Tusla. However, before contact could be made, Tusla got in touch later that day and asked gardaí to return to the apartment.
When back there, gardaí tried to persuade the mother to allow the little girl be brought to hospital for a check-up. She was “adamant that wouldn't happen”, one of the gardaí told the court.
The garda said that when he talked to the accused man on his own, the man seemed “amenable” but the mother then told him their relationship would be over if he agreed to the hospital visit and he “changed his mind entirely”.
The little girl was eventually brought to hospital by her maternal grandmother and the accused man. The court heard the mother was arrested in July 2018 and later charged.
The court also heard from a consultant paediatrician and clinical nurse manager who were present in the hospital when the girl was examined on April 6th, 2018, the morning after she had been taken into hospital. They both described how the mother of the child, who had initially refused to allow them to remove her daughter’s nappy, became agitated later and pulled down the nappy to show them the child’s vagina.
The witness said they did not perform a physical examination of the child’s vagina but could see on a visual inspection that it was abnormal.
Both witnesses said the mother claimed the doctor who had examined the child the previous day had damaged or injured the child’s vagina. The child was then referred to Dr Emma Curtis, a consultant paediatrician, who later arranged for the girl to be transferred to Crumlin Hospital.
The trial continues before Mr Justice David Keane and a jury.
In relation to the little girl, the man has pleaded not guilty to seven charges. He has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting her by penetrating her vagina with an object and to intentionally or recklessly endangering her by failing to seek medical help for injuries to her genital area.
He has further pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting her by biting her on her genital area.
The man has also pleaded not guilty to four charges of child cruelty against the girl, including failing to seek medical help for an injury to her wrist, causing bruising to her face and body, ill-treating her at a Dublin shopping centre and leaving her outside an apartment door.
In relation to the boy, the man has denied three charges of child cruelty. He has pleaded not guilty to causing bruising to his penis, body and face, to ill-treating him at a Dublin shopping centre and to leaving him outside an apartment door along with his little sister.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
