Dublin women awarded €4.7m after rapes by former choir master
Damages totalling €4.7m have been awarded to two Dublin women who were repeatedly raped by an older member of their choir in the early 1970s.
55-year-olds Jacqueline O'Toole of Pearse Street and Geraldine Nolan of Townsend Street sued their abuser Joseph Carrick of Carysfort Woods, Blackrock, who decided not to defend the action.
Joseph Carrick was described in court as an evil paedophile who used to prey on children.
Although tried, he was not convicted on criminal charges.
Now aged in his 70s, he opted not to defend these two civil actions for damages brought by the women he repeatedly raped as children.
Both girls knew Carrick, a local stevedore, from singing in the City Quay choir.
Today, Jacqueline O'Toole gave evidence that she became pregnant by Carrick at the age of 15.
The court also heard that the girl's mother believed she had appendicitis when she gave birth to the girl, whom she called Edel.
She got to hold the baby once before giving her up for adoption, and has never seen her again.
She is to receive €4m compensation for the brutal and systematic abuse she endured.
Yesterday, in separate proceedings, Geraldine Nolan described before a jury how Carrick showed her adult movies involving illegal acts at the age of 12 before he abused her.
She was awarded €700,000.
