The father of a woman who claims she was repeatedly raped in a car by a school principal when he gave her lifts to school has told the High Court he was devastated when his daughter told him about the assaults.
The father was giving evidence in his daughter's civil action against the man who she says sexually assaulted and raped her when he gave her lifts to school in 2009/10.
She claims the assaults started with him touching her and then making her touch his penis before it escalated to forcing her to perform oral sex and later rape. She also alleges she was afraid to tell anyone because he threatened to kill her if she did.
He denies the claims and says while he drove her to her school, which was near the one he was principal of, the assaults never happened. The DPP decided in 2012 there would be no prosecution against him.
In evidence on the third day of the case, the woman's father said he had approached the school principal in 2009 to ask him to give his then 16-year-old daughter a lift to school each morning.
He told his daughter's barrister, Niall Beirne SC, that up to then he and his wife had shared driving their daughter on the 14-mile trip to school.
However, one of their other children was suffering from serious mental health problems at the time and their neighbour, who knew they had difficulties especially with children going to three different schools, recommended the principal as a person who might give the daughter a lift.
The father said he went to the principal's home, which was in the locality, and asked if he would bring her to school and he agreed. He said he did not know the principal before this, although he had seen him at Mass.
At the end of the 2009/10 school term, he said he or his daughter received a text saying he [the principal] would be unable to continue taking her to school. From September 2010 he resumed taking her to school although his wife, who suffered from bouts of depression, also drove her sometimes.
Suicidal
The court heard previously that the woman reached out for help in early 2011 as she was suffering from suicidal ideation as a result of the alleged assaults. She was advised by her own school to tell her parents.
The father said he “was devastated when I heard the news” on the day he arrived home to be told by his wife and daughter about what had happened.
At the end of January 2011, he sent a message to the principal asking him to meet with him (the father) and a health professional in a hotel.
The principal refused and some days later the father received a letter from the principal's solicitors who said their client was unaware of any allegation being made by his daughter and he had been advised not to attend such a meeting.
At that point, their daughter had made a complaint to the gardai who carried out an investigation. She also attended the Rape Crisis Centre where she received a number of counselling sessions.
Bullying
Under cross-examination by Conall MacCarthy BL, for the principal, the father agreed his daughter was subjected to significant bullying in her national school which continued into secondary school.
He agreed matters came to a head over the bullying when she was referred to the mental health services, and she also moved school some distance from her home.
He did not recollect his daughter being unable to sit her Junior Cert after she suffered fainting and panic attacks.
In replies to a series of questions from Mr Justice Tony O'Connor, the father said he messaged the principal after his daughter told him about the assaults but did not, as the defence claimed, go to his home.
"I think it would have been quite unwise for me to meet him face to face. I was afraid of what I could or might have done".
He said when a detective garda called to his home in August 2012, to say the DPP decided there would be no prosecution, "I told him to turn the car around and get off my property as quickly as possible. I was absolutely disgusted with that news".
Later that same day, a garda sergeant visited him and "advised me not to do anything silly", he said.
The case continues on Tuesday.
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.
