Courts

Rape accused told gardaí his father ‘should be punished’ for having a child with his own daughter

Father and three sons deny multiple charges of rape and sexual assault against members of their own family

A man (66) and his three sons, aged 38, 40 and 41, are on trial charged with numerous counts of sexually abusing four members of their extended family. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Wed May 17 2023 - 18:13

A man accused of committing various sexual offences against his relatives told gardaí that his father should be punished for having a child with his own daughter.

The 38-year-old, his father (66) and two brothers, aged 40 and 41, are on trial charged with numerous counts of sexually abusing four members of their extended family, who were all children at the time. His mother (63) is also on trial charged with assaulting her nephew and granddaughter and assisting her son who allegedly anally raped her granddaughter.

The court has heard that the alleged offences occurred between 1999 and 2005 in various locations around the country. The jury has been told that the complainants and the accused are all part of an extended Traveller family. There is a total of 126 counts on the indictment before the court and the five defendants deny all of the charges.

The 38-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to a total of 36 charges including 22 counts of raping his sister, along with four counts of sexual assault and six charges of oral rape. He has further denied two charges of raping his niece and two charges of raping his male cousin.

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The jury at the Central Criminal Court trial on Wednesday heard recordings of this man’s interview with gardaí during which he said the HSE told him that his own father was the father of his sister’s child. He said his father should not have done what he had done.

“He should not have a child with his daughter. He should be punished for it – not us,” the man told gardaí.

Dragged into it

The accused man said he did not know why his sister was dragging him into it. He said she should have to come to him and his mother first and “we would have sorted it out, brought her to the gardaí”.

The man said a social worker told him about the allegations that his sister made about him. He told gardaí that he had protected his sister from bullies and he was protective of her.

“I told him I am not animal, I wouldn’t do that to my sisters. I have a wife and kids at home – I love them to bits,” the man told gardaí.

He said he could not understand why she would make the allegations up about him but maybe to get back at his mother. He said he would rather die “than touch my sister”.

The man continued to deny each of the allegations as the gardaí read out his sister’s statement to him and explained how the woman had brought the gardaí to the various locations where she claimed she had been abused by him.

“No, I never laid a hand on her,” he said as further allegations were put to him. “I never harmed a soul”.

When asked by gardaí would he tell anyone if he’d had sex with his sister, the man replied: “I wouldn’t have sex with my sister.”

Harrowing story

When gardaí told him that it was the most harrowing story they had ever heard, the man replied “my heart is hurting. My father made a mistake. I never hurt my sister”.

The jury also heard the 41-year-old man’s interviews with gardaí. He has pleaded not guilty to a total of 31 charges including two charges of anal rape and one charge of raping his niece. Additionally, he has denied 21 counts of raping his sister, four charges of sexually assaulting her and three charges of orally raping her.

He told gardaí that he did not have a clue as to why his sister would make allegations about him. He said he was shocked about the allegations.

“It hurts you,” he said before he agreed with a suggestion from the gardaí “that for a brother to do that to a sister is absolutely horrific”.

Intimate relationship

The man was interviewed again in relation to the allegations his niece had made against him. He denied that he had an intimate relationship with her and replied that it was “sick” when asked if he ever had a physical interaction with her.

The man said he had never been alone together with his niece and the first he heard of her allegations against him was the morning of that interview. “She is lying, what can I do?” the man replied.

The men’s sister, now aged 36, gave evidence last Thursday that from the age of seven or eight her father allegedly sexually assaulted her numerous times a week. She told Shane Costelloe SC, prosecuting, that from the age of 11, her father raped her several times a week until she moved away at the age of 18.

She told Mr Costello that her three brothers “did the same”. She told the court that three of her four brothers each raped her multiple times a week from the age of 12 to 18.

The court heard the alleged rapes would occur in the caravan and car at the side of the road in locations in Connacht and Leinster. The alleged rapes would consist of oral and vaginal rape.

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