Evidence given in trial against seven men accused of familial sex abuse

A woman has told a Central Criminal Court jury that she woke up in her bed at the age of 12 to her older brother anally raping her.

She told the court that after she squealed in pain, he jumped up and left her there, “like (she) was nothing”.

The now 24-year-old woman was giving evidence in the trial of seven men who are accused of familial sexual abuse across a lengthy period of years. She is the third complainant in the case.

Her brother, Accused C, has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to one count of anally raping her on a date between September 2013 and September 2014.

This man, now 34, is on trial facing a further 49 counts against two other sisters, Complainant 1 and Complainant 2.

His six co-accused, who are aged between 32 and 55, are on trial in relation to a total of 98 counts against them pertaining to Complainant 1, a deaf woman.

The abuse against this woman is alleged to have occurred within the State over a 17 year period from 1996 until 2013. The accused men are her three uncles and four brothers. The accused men deny all the charges against them.

None of the parties involved can be named for legal reasons.

On Tuesday, Complainant 3 gave evidence to the jury via videolink. When asked by Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, if she grew up in a happy home, she replied: “No.”

“There was always arguments between mammy and daddy,” she told the court. “It would start with daddy, he was always drinking.” She said her father would “sometimes” get violent with her mother and with her brothers who were living there at the time.

She said social workers became involved with the family when her father (who is not on trial) beat one of her sisters for not going to school.

In relation to the allegation before the court concerning her older brother, Accused C, the woman said that on the night in question, she was asleep in the room she shared with her two sisters.

She said she thought it was around winter time because the three beds were close together and beside the radiator to keep them warm. She said she was wearing a pink Barbie nightdress.

She said the door was open because she was afraid of the dark and that her sister used to sing her to sleep every night.

She said she woke up on her side to find her brother behind her, anally raping her. She said the pain woke her up. “It was like a sting,” she told the court.

She said she “squealed in pain and (he) left and that was it. Nothing was said.”

She said he “started fixing himself up” and then left the room and went downstairs. “He left me there like I was nothing,” she told the court.

“It was like he was more afraid he was going to get caught,” she later added. She said he was wearing dark jeans with a faded pattern, a shirt and a sleeveless black jacket at the time, that he smelled of alcohol and aftershave and was freshly shaved.

The woman said she went to the bathroom where she discovered she was bleeding, before one of her sisters came into her and they went back to bed.

The woman told prosecuting counsel that Accused C did not live in the family home at that time and she agreed she “didn't know him much” when she was growing up.

She said she never spoke to him about what happened that night.

Under cross-examination from Karl Finnegan SC, defencing Accused C, the woman agreed that in her statement to gardaí, which was made in October 2021, she said that he had a “beard and stubble”.

“My recollection was not correct then,” she said of her garda statement. “He was clean shaved.”

She agreed she had “extremely limited contact” with Accused C and that she never grew up with him. “He was never really around,” she said.

When asked if this was happening to her as she was waking up, the woman replied: “I woke up and his penis was inside me.”

The woman agreed there was no light on in the bedroom on the night in question. When asked by defence counsel how she was able to give “such detailed features” about him, she said there was a light shining into the room from the bathroom.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Biggs and an extended jury panel of 15 jurors. It is set down for four months.

As well as the charge pertaining to Complainant 3, Accused C has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to 45 counts against his older sister, Complainant 1, comprising 22 counts of rape and 23 counts of anally raping her over a 12 year period between 2001 and 2013.

He has further pleaded not (NOT) guilty to sexually assaulting another younger sister, Complainant 2 on a date between 2005 and 2006 along with two counts of rape and one count of anal rape of the same sister between 2016 and 2019.

The jury has been told that Complainant 1 attended a sexual health promotion course in 2017 and told a social worker about alleged abuse by family members, after which gardai were notified and an investigation commenced.

In relation to the counts pertaining to Complainant 1, Accused A (55) – her uncle - is accused of a single count of raping her on a date between December 2009 and April 2011.

Accused B (48) is accused of eight counts involving rape, oral rape and anal rape of the same woman - his niece - on dates between December 2008 and December 2010.

Three younger brothers of the main complainant, as well as Accused C, are accused of sexually abusing her over varying periods of time. 

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.