Ten-year-old girl testifies in rape-accused father's case
A 10-year-old girl has alleged that her father, who is accused of cruelty to his five children, raped her when she was eight and her younger brother has alleged that the man hit him with a belt even when he was good.
The accused man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape and sexual assault of his now 10-year-old daughter and the sexual assault of his now 13-year-old son on dates in 2007.
He also pleaded not guilty to the wilful assault of his three sons in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering, injury to the children's health or seriously effect their well-being on dates between January and September 2007.
He further denied the wilful neglect of all five children, now aged between seven and 14 years old, by failing to provide adequate clothing or food.
The now 10-year-old girl told Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that she would wear her daytime clothes to bed at night and did not have pyjamas.
She said that on a particular day when she was eight she had been out playing with her friends wearing a skirt and top. She thought she had been wearing underpants during the day but took them off when she went to bed.
She said her father came into her bedroom and sat down and talked to her. She said he took her clothes off and “told me what he was going to do”.
She said he then got on top of her and “went up and down”. She said he put his “private” inside her “private”.
She told Ms Kennedy that another name for a boy’s private is a “willy”. The alleged incident lasted for “about two minutes” and hurt “a little bit”.
She agreed with defence counsel, Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC (with Kieran Kelly BL), during cross examination, that she had become upset after an access visit with her mother and siblings after she had been taken into foster care and following this visit made the complaint about her father.
She agreed she had decided not to have any more visits with her family. She agreed her mother and siblings had been “crying and upset” at being separated.
When asked by Mr O’Carroll if her mother had told her to make up stories to make her father look bad and her mother look good so the children would go back into her care she replied: “I think so, yeah.”
When asked what she was told to say she said: “Tell the truth about Dad and lies about Mam.”
She agreed with Mr O’Carroll that she remembered making complaints that a number of other people had interfered with her “in a wrong way”.
She said when she was hungry during the day she could make sandwiches and her mother would cook dinner. When asked if her mother was a good cook she replied “yes”.
She told Mr O’Carroll that her four-year-old sister had slept in the same bed as her that night but that the child had a bad dream and went into her mothers room before her father abused her.
She said her that father went back out of her room after he abused her and she went asleep.
When asked why she did not call out to her mother when he father was abusing her she replied: “She did not really know what was going on.”
She replied “it actually happened” when asked by Mr O’Carroll if the allegation was a “fairy story”.
Mr O’Carroll put it to her that she had alleged in her garda statement that her father had “sexed” her four-year-old sister before he had sex with her. He asked her if this happened and she said yes.
He asked why she had not said such an important thing in her evidence and she replied: “I don‘t think I remembered it.”
Earlier, the now eight-year-old second-youngest child told Ms Kennedy that his father hit him "lots of times" when he lived with his parents by "slapping me on the bum". He said his father used a belt and it hurt him.
The boy told Mr O'Carroll during cross examination that he shared a room with all his brothers and sisters. He said when he was hungry he could go into the kitchen and make sandwiches and have a drink.
He said he got on with his mother "fine" but disagreed that she was always keeping a on eye on him. "She was always lying down," he said.
He agreed that she would get out of bed to cook dinner and she would sometimes cook his favourite meal. He said his dad never went to work.
He said he kept his clothes on the floor but agreed he had some clothes for special occasions.
He agreed with Ms Kennedy during re-examination that he was slapped whether he was good or bold. “He always slapped me when I was good,” he said.
The foster father of the eight-year-old boy told Ms Kennedy the then six-year-old child had arrived to stay with him in September 2007. He said he settled in well and there were no behavioural difficulties.
He said that he noticed the boy ate extremely quickly and “gobbled” his food. Otherwise the child was good humoured and mixed well.
The man told Mr O’Carroll during cross examination that when the boy arrived he was “quite dirty, unclean”.
He agreed that he had said in his garda statement that the boy had no restless nights and did not discuss his family.
