Woman tells familial abuse trial she is telling the truth

Eimear Dodd

A woman who says she was raped by her uncle has told a familial abuse trial that she is telling the truth.

The woman, who is deaf, is being cross-examined as part of the trial of seven men accused of familial abuse.

The seven defendants, who are aged between 32 and 55, have pleaded not guilty to a combined total of 103 charges against them, of which 98 counts pertain to the 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.

The woman has completed her evidence-in-chief and on Thursday, was being cross-examined by Michael Hourigan SC, defending the first defendant, Accused A, her uncle.

She 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.

Accused A – the woman's 55-year-old uncle - is accused of a single count of raping her on a date between December 2009 and April 2011. He has denied the charge.

On Thursday, Mr Hourigan told the woman he would put some statements to her that he will say to the jury later in the trial and asked her to respond if she wished.

He put it to her that she did not tell the gardaí about the alleged abuse by her uncle until 2021 and that “your story has changed a lot since then”.

The woman replied: “different ways”.

Mr Hourigan then told the woman that he would tell the jury that her uncle “did not have sex with you”.

The interpreters told the court that the woman responded using a sign for “I'm telling the truth”.

Mr Hourigan then suggested to the woman that she was confusing what happened with another man [who is not on trial] with what she says happened with her uncle.

She replied the incidents happened at different times.

Mr Hourigan told the woman he would tell the jury that her uncle “did not rape you”.

The woman became upset and took a short break.

When she returned, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs asked the woman if she wished to respond to Mr Hourigan.

The woman said: “I am never confused. It’s like blackmail, like a threat”.

The trial continues.

Charges

Accused B (48) – another uncle - is accused of eight counts comprising rape, oral rape and anal rape of the complainant on dates between December 2008 and December 2010. He has denied the charges.

Four of her younger brothers are also accused of sexually abusing her over varying periods of time.

Accused C (34) is accused of 45 counts – 22 of rape and 23 counts of anally raping her over a 12- year period between 2001 and 2013.

Accused D (33) is accused of 22 counts of sexually abusing his sister over an 11-year period on dates between 2002 and 2013. He has pleaded not guilty to 19 charges of rape and three counts of anal rape.

Accused E (32) is accused of 16 counts of sexual abuse against his sister over an eight-year period between 2003 and 2011. He has denied nine counts of anal rape and seven counts of raping her.

The fourth brother, Accused F (also 32), has denied five counts – three counts of anal rape and two counts of raping his sister on dates between 2007 and 2010.

Another uncle, Accused G (45), has denied a single count of raping her on a date between 1996 and 1997.

Accused C is further charged with the sexual abuse of two of his younger sisters. He is charged with one count of sexual assault in relation to one sister, Complainant 2, on a date between 2005 and 2006 when she was a child. He is also charged with two counts of rape and one of anal rape of this woman on dates between 2016 and 2019.

He is also charged with one count of anally raping a third sister, Complainant 3, on dates between 2013 and 2014.

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.