Alleged sex abuse incident took place in different location to previous evidence, court told

Isabel Hayes and Eimear Dodd

The primary complainant in a familial abuse trial has told defence counsel for her brother that an alleged incident of sexual abuse took place in a different location than she said previously in her evidence.

The seven men, aged between 32 and 55, are on trial in the Central Criminal Court in relation to a combined total of 103 charges against them – of which 98 counts pertain to the main complainant, who is deaf. They are her four younger brothers and three uncles.

They are accused of sexually abusing her at various stages over a 17-year period between 1996 and 2013 and deny any wrongdoing. None of the parties involved can be named for legal reasons.

This week, Karl Finnegan SC, defending, is cross-examining the main complainant in relation to the allegations against his client, her 34-year-old brother, who is three years younger than her.

This man, referred to as Accused C, is accused of 45 counts against this complainant – 22 of rape and 23 counts of anally raping her over a 12-year period between 2001 and 2013. He is also accused of sexual abuse against two of his younger sisters. He has denied the charges.

The main complainant is giving evidence via video-link and through two interpreters – an Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter and a deaf relay – as well as an intermediary who is a linguistics expert. There are also two interpreter monitoring teams present in court to ensure the woman is being interpreted correctly.

Charts and symbols are also being used to assist the woman to communicate, with the court hearing earlier in the trial that she has challenges communicating timelines in terms of calendars and sequence.

On Wednesday, Mr Finnegan asked the woman about a portion of her direct evidence, in which she said that Accused C sexually assaulted in a neighbour's garden, when she was 13.

He asked the woman if she remembered telling the jury this, and she replied: “I can't remember, I can't remember”.

When asked if she did not remember Accused C doing this or telling the jury, she replied “[his] fault. He was very young, It was his first time. Hard to explain. He was very young. Hard to explain.”

Mr Finnegan told the woman that the first time she told anyone about this alleged incident was in her direct evidence last November. The woman replied: “[Accused C's name]'s first time”.

Later, she said that this alleged incident occurred at her parents' home and “that's wrong” that it occurred in the garden of a neighbour's house.

Earlier, Mr Finnegan brought the woman through an interview she had with gardaí in which the court heard she said Accused C raped her when she was seven years old.

The complainant was shown a timeline before Mr Finnegan asked her: “Do you agree that when you were seven, (Accused C) was four?”

“It's (his) fault,” the woman replied.

Defence counsel then asked: “Is it correct that (Accused C) could not have raped you when he was only four years old?”

“It's (his) fault,” the woman again replied.

Mr Finnegan also asked the woman about an allegation she made to gardaí that the same brother raped her on a sheet in their front garden in the summer of 1999, when he was eight years old.

“If (Accused C) had forced sex with you in the front garden, the neighbours or people out walking would have seen this happening?” asked defence counsel.

“No one, no one saw,” the woman replied.

When Mr Finnegan put it to the woman that Accused C “could not have had forced sex with you when he was only eight years of age,” the woman replied: “Wrong.”

Mr Finnegan also brought the complainant through allegations she made to gardaí against this brother, in which she said he anally raped her outdoors in the presence of a female cousin when she (the complainant) was in her teens.

The court heard this cousin gave a statement to gardaí in which she said she “never saw anything inappropriate” happen between the complainant and Accused C.

When asked about this, the complainant told the court her cousin was lying.

“I'm telling the truth, I'm telling the truth,” she told the court.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Biggs and an extended jury panel of 14 jurors.