A little girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her mother's partner when she was a toddler has told his trial that she stopped living with him and her mother because they were “being mean”.
The now seven-year-old girl gave evidence via video link in the Central Criminal Court trial.
The 29-year-old Dublin man has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges involving sexual abuse and reckless endangerment of the girl, as well as child cruelty to her and her older brother on dates between February and April 2018.
The children were just under two and three years old at the time. The man cannot be named to protect their identity.
Specialist interview
The jury was this week shown a video of a specialist interview gardaí carried out with the girl when she was four years old, in which she said the man bit her on her private area and hit her with a stick on her bottom and privates.
Seamus Clarke SC, defending the man, cross-examined the girl. When asked why she stopped living with her mother and the accused man, the girl said: “Because they were being mean.”
When asked if she now remembered the man biting her on her privates as she alleged in the garda interview, the girl shook her head no.
“(The accused man) has told us he did not hit you with a stick on your privates or your bum,” Mr Clarke said. “Might you have made a mistake about him hitting you with a stick?” The girl shook her head before saying: “No.”
The jury was also shown videos of four specialist interviews carried out by gardaí with the girl's brother. The first three interviews were carried out in 2019 when he was aged four, and the fourth interview was carried out in 2020 when he was five.
In the final interview, when he was five, the boy told the interviewing garda that the accused man was a “bold daddy”. “He didn't tell the truth,” the little boy said. “He hurted us.”
During the interview, the little boy drew pictures of the Incredible Hulk with the garda and discussed his favourite cartoons.
When asked how the man had hurt him and his sister, the boy repeatedly said he didn't remember. “He was too strong. He ate all of his vegetables,” he said of the man.
Hurt 'every day'
The boy said his mother threw hot spaghetti at him and his sister, which he said hit them in their faces. “It was too hot,” he said.
The boy said the man hurt him and his sister “every day”. “He laughed,” he told the interviewing garda. “It wasn't funny.”
“I had to go to hospital,” he told the garda. “Because he hurted us so much and it really hurt.”
The trial resumes on Monday before the jury and Mr Justice David Keane.
The accused man has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the infant girl by penetrating her vagina with an object and to intentionally or recklessly endangering her by failing to seek medical help for injuries to her genital area and, on another occasion by failing to seek medical help for an injury to her wrist.
He has also pleaded not guilty to wilfully assaulting or ill-treating the boy by causing bruising to his penis, body and face and to wilfully assaulting or ill-treating both children at a Dublin shopping centre.
The man has pleaded not guilty to wilfully, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing the children by leaving them alone together outside the door of an apartment.
Finally, the man has pleaded not guilty to wilfully assaulting or ill-treating the girl by causing bruising to her face and body and additionally to sexually assaulting her by biting her on her genital area.
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.
