Jury sees video of daughter accusing father of rape
The jury in the trial of a Clare man has viewed video recordings of his eldest daughter telling psychiatrists that he often sexually assaulted her and that she revealed this to her mother.
This is the first instance since its enactment that section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 has been invoked to permit the use of a video recording of an interview as direct evidence in a criminal trial.
Garda Lorraine Fahy told prosecuting counsel, Ms Una Ní Raifeartaigh BL, that she observed all the interviews seen by the jury and that what was shown in court was an accurate record of what happened
The 36-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault on two of his daughters on dates between September 2001 and December 2004 in a County Offaly town. It was day 11 of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The girl was interviewed in a relaxed playroom setting in which she was seen chatting animatedly while she painted and drew on paper and on a board and discussed her "artwork" with the health board assessor.
Four video recordings were shown to the jury and in one of them the girl was seen enthusiastically greeting the interviewer who recalled they hadn't met each other "since Christmas". The girl enquired where another assessor she had previously met was and was told she was in another room.
The child and the psychiatrist then discussed 'Barbie' dolls and other related matters before the conversation was directed towards her talking "about your Daddy" whom she said was constantly "at me" and that when he was finished "my bum would be sore" because he would "put his finger in there".
She said "I know that" when told by the psychiatrist that she was free to tell everything she wanted to talk about and that "nobody here will get cross with you".
On being reminded that there was something "you couldn't remember the other day" and asked if she wanted to talk about it then, she replied "maybe another day" while continuing to play with the paints.
She alleged her father would be "at her" in his and her bedrooms and in the sitting room of two houses and told the interviewer she should "tell the judge that Daddy hurt me". The psychiatrist replied that a report of whatever she told them would be prepared "for the judge".
When the second assessor enters the room during another session, the child greeted her rapturously with the announcement that she had made a badge for her and then told her there was nothing she hadn't been asked by the other woman that she wanted to add.
The child herself noted in one session that there had been questions she hadn't answered. "I have something to tell to you and it is really bad," she said and when told again she could talk about anything, she replied: "Maybe in a little while."
She said that one time she shouted at her father "no, no" and he shouted back at her, saying "shut up".
"When we were finished he wiped my bum with a towel."
She claimed her father "smacked" her for telling her mother about him being "at" her and ordered her not to tell her mother again.
"And I did tell Mummy again and he did smack me."
She said he also smacked her father after one of her siblings revealed to him overhearing her tell her mother.
The child's replies were often interspersed with her animated references to the painting and drawing - "Can I finish off this first - or asking for approval for her work - "What do you think of that?"
She couldn't say how many times "all these things" happened but agreed with the interviewer that it could have been "more than 10 times" and added that ten times nine "made 90".
The child sat on the playroom table in one of the sessions and demonstrated with models what she claims her father would do with her lying on a bed or on the floor of their sitting room.
"I forgot to tell you this. It's really evil," she said at another time and whispered to the interviewer that her daddy would "kiss me when he was doing it". She said he would kiss her with his lips and when asked if any other part of his body went into her mouth, she spelt out the reply: "N. O".
When told by them that she was "a great girl" for the way she answered the questions and would have to answer some more for a garda, she replied almost offhandedly "I know. I know", while playing with a replica fire engine she had asked to be taken down from a shelf for her.
During her final assessment interview, she repeated her earlier allegations in whispers to the interviewers and said that when her father was finished he wiped "my bum with a tissue".
She said she was undressed while these things happened and that afterwards her mother would "wipe my bum gently." Asked about this she replied: "She did it gently because she wouldn't want to hurt me. I would go into her room and she would say 'why are your pants down?' and I would tell her why."
Gda Fahy told Ms Ní Raifeartaigh that shortly after these interviews, she spoke with the child at her home in the presence of two other gardaí. The girl told them her father would order her to go to her room and take down her panties and would then lie down on her and kiss her.
She claimed her father would "get some cream and put it on my bum with his finger" before wiping 'the cream' off his fingers with a tissue. "He would hurt me when he touched my bum bum."
She said she would "be scared" on these occasions when he would say to her: "Don't tell Mammy or you will get a smack".
Gda Fahy said the girl was shown two different products and confirmed that "the cream" she referred to was 'Vaseline'. She told the gardaí she was five or six years old when these things she alleged happened and that she told her grandmother and an uncle about them.
Gda Fahy said the child's mother made a formal complaint to gardaí in November 2004 and the girl and her sister were examined by doctors in a Midland's hospital. Gardaí collected bedclothes and the girl's clothing and handed them over to the Forensic Science Laboratory.
The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan with a jury of five women and seven men.
