Updated: 4pm
Five family members accused of sexually abusing small children have been found guilty by a jury following a 10-week Central Criminal Court trial.
The children's mother, father, aunt, her husband and uncle were found guilty of all but one of the 78 counts against them on Friday.
The final verdicts came in after a total of 19 hours and 54 minutes of deliberations. The jury started their deliberations on Thursday, July 29th.
Earlier on Friday morning, the jury returned 40 guilty counts in respect of four of the accused and one not guilty verdict in relation to the 27-year-old uncle. They returned a further 37 guilty counts – almost all majority verdicts – against the five accused on Friday afternoon.
Thanking the jury for their service, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said words were inadequate to express his gratitude for the “contribution, application and dedication” the jury had shown throughout the trial.
“This was an extremely difficult case to deal with and get to grips with, both by the nature of the allegations and the complexity of it and by the nature of the principals to be absorbed and applied by you,” the judge said. “I want to thank you for that. It is a huge and onerous task.”
He remanded all five in custody ahead of sentencing at a later date.
Sexual abuse
The five family members, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were accused of sexually abusing three children between 2014 and 2016. The accused are the parents, aunt and uncles of the children. They range in ages from 27 to 56 and live in various locations in Munster.
The parents were also accused of wilfully neglecting five of their children while the father was accused of mistreating three of them by giving them medication. All of the accused had denied all of the charges against them.
Extensive reporting restrictions are in place to protect the welfare and identities of the children, who were taken into care in 2016. They were aged between one and nine at the time of the offending.
All of the offences are alleged to have taken place in Munster on unknown dates between August 18th, 2014 and April 28th, 2016.
None of the defendants made any reaction when the verdicts were handed down, except for the 27-year-old uncle who bowed his head and shook it. His partner – who was found not guilty by direction of the trial judge – was in court for the verdict. She started crying as the guilty verdicts were handed down.
The case against the children's 57-year-old grandmother was also withdrawn during the trial by direction of the judge.
Counts
The father was found guilty of 31 counts. In relation to the three older children, he was found guilty of six counts of rape, six counts of sexual assault, three counts of permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child and three counts of sexually exploiting two of them.
He was further found guilty of 10 counts of wilfully neglecting five of his children and three counts of mistreating three of his children by giving them medication. An additional three counts against him were withdrawn during the trial by direction of the judge.
The 34-year-old mother was found guilty of all 25 counts against her, including 10 counts of wilful neglect. In relation to the three older children, she was found guilty of 10 counts of sexual assault, three counts of permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexually exploiting her oldest son.
The children's 35-year-old aunt was found guilty of all three counts, including two counts of sexually assaulting the girl and one count of sexually assaulting the second oldest boy.
The children's 49-year-old uncle – the husband of their maternal aunt – was found guilty of all 10 counts against him.
He was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of rape. Two additional counts were withdrawn during the trial.
The 27-year-old uncle was found guilty of eight of the nine charges against him. He was found guilty of six counts of rape and two counts of sexual exploitation. He was found not guilty of one count of sexually exploiting the girl. One count was withdrawn during the trial by direction of the judge.
The matter returns to court on October 4th when a sentence date will be set.
