The first complainant has started to give evidence in the trial of five people accused of various sexual offences and assaults against four members of their extended family.
A husband (66) and his three sons, aged 38, 40 and 41, are on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with over 100 counts of rape and sexual assaults against the four then children. The 63-year-old wife of the first accused is also on trial charged with assaults and with concealing the effects of anal rape on one of the children, her granddaughter.
The court heard that alleged offences occurred between September 1999 and February 2004 against these four complainants, who are related and were children at the time and are now in their 30s. The five defendants deny all the charges.
On the second day of the trial, the first complainant, now aged 30, testified that while visiting her grandparents in a rural area in Connacht, she was held down and raped by her grandfather on two separate occasions. She said she was around nine years old at the time.
Holidays
The woman told the court that she would visit her grandparents during her holidays from national school. During her holidays, she would go out on her grandfather's bike, play in the fields, and visit a pond.
Shane Costelloe SC, prosecuting, asked the woman if she remembered being out on her grandfather's bicycle when he drove up in his car. The woman replied that she did and told the court that she was out with the horses, and her grandfather called her over.
She said he then grabbed her and put her face down in the backseat of his car. He held her down by placing his hand on her back, and then, “he put his penis into me”. Prosecuting counsel asked where he put his penis, and the woman replied, “on my backside”.
The woman described the feeling “It was like someone sticking a knife in me. It was unbelievable.” Counsel asked her how long she believed it lasted, and she said, “A few minutes, but it felt like forever”.
After it had ended, her grandfather gave her money and sweets.
Mr Costello then asked the woman if she knew what age she was at the time and she said, “about nine, I think it was the year my mother told me Santa wasn’t real”.
Male cousins
The woman said that on another occasion she was playing in a field with her two male cousins. Her grandfather came up to them and told her two male cousins to go and clean out underneath the trailers.
The boys left and the girl was left alone in the field with her grandfather. She said her grandfather her face down in the hay and held her down by placing his hand on her back.
The woman told the court that she could not have got up as “he would have hit ya, and he was holding me down”. She said the grandfather then “placed his penis” into her “backside”.
The woman said, “The pain was unbelievable. I still have flashbacks to this day”, she then described the incident as lasting a few minutes but that “it felt like forever, to be honest”. The incident came to an end when her grandfather “came”, the court heard.
The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring.
Charges
The first accused (66), the father of the three men and husband to the female accused, has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to 25 charges, including two charges of anal rape of his granddaughter. He also has denied a total of 21 charges against his nephew, including 12 charges of anal rape, ten charges of oral rape and one charge of assault causing him harm.
The second accused (41), a son of the first accused, has pleaded not guilty to a total of 31 charges, including two charges of anal rape and one charge of rape to the same granddaughter, his niece. Additionally, he has denied four charges of sexually assaulting his sister, 21 charges of raping her and three charges of orally raping her.
The third accused (38), a son of the first accused and brother of the second accused, pleaded not guilty to 36 charges, including two charges of anal rape in relation to the same granddaughter, two charges of anal rape of a second male complainant, his cousin. In relation to his sister, the same second female complainant, he has denied four charges of sexual assault, 22 charges of rape and six charges of oral rape over the same dates.
The fourth accused (63) is the mother of the three men and the wife of the first accused. She has pleaded not guilty, while knowing or believing that her son, the second accused, was guilty of the offence of anal rape, to concealing the effects by giving the complainant, her granddaughter, an adult diaper and convincing her not to return to her parents.
She has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting her nephew, the first male complainant, causing him harm and assaulting her granddaughter, causing her harm.
The fifth accused (40) is also a son of the couple and the brother of the other two accused.
He has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges against his sister, the second female complainant, including five charges of sexual assault, 23 charges of rape and three charges of oral rape.
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.
In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
