Jury awards woman €177,000 damages for injuries arising from sexual abuse as underage teen

A civil jury of 10 men and two women has awarded €177,000 to a woman who alleged she was sexually abused and raped by a farmer when she was working with horses as an underage teenager.

The jury found, on the balance of probabilities, that the defendant committed an act or acts of sexual assault or rape against her during the 1990s when the man was aged in his 40s.

After deliberating for four hours, the jury returned its verdict and awarded the woman €135,000 in damages for injury and loss plus €42,000 in aggravated damages. She has also been awarded her legal costs.

Offered assistance

The parties cannot be identified by order of the court.

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The woman (40s) sued the man for damages arising out of the alleged sexual abuse and rape when she was aged between 15 and 18. He denied her allegations and submitted that her claim was statute barred.

He was present during the hearing at the High Court but chose not to give evidence.

At the opening of the personal injuries case, the woman’s senior counsel, John O’Donnell, said she was a “happy-go-lucky girl” prior to the abuse by the man who employed her to train horses at his isolated farm.

They first encountered each other at an equestrian centre when the girl was 15. The man, whose son had a horse at the centre, offered to help with her horse training and riding, counsel said.

Mr O’Donnell said the girl “could not possibly have recognised that this [offer] was part of the grooming process by the defendant” who had an “abusive and domineering power” over her.

The abuse has made her feel suicidal and as if she is “existing rather than living”, he said, adding that it has affected her ability to form relationships and trust people.

Giving evidence, the woman said the sexual abuse began as unwanted kissing and touching, and within months it progressed to rape. She recalled when she was aged 15 and, she said, he took her in his jeep to a remote back road during darkness and raped her.

Diagnosed autistic

She later went to work for the man training horses at his farm. He went on to rape her at a bed and breakfast, in a horse stable, and “on a regular basis” in a caravan on his farm, she told the jury.

Asked by Mr O’Donnell why she continued to work at his farm, the woman said she was “terrified” as he made several threats to kill her, including once while holding a pitchfork.

“He said he would bury me in the big hole up in the field,” she said, adding that he told her she would be “nothing” without him and would never work with horses again if she left.

The woman, who has been diagnosed with autism, said she did not tell anyone in her family for many years because the man warned her she would be in trouble if she did.

After undergoing counselling at a rape crisis centre she felt empowered to make a complaint about it to gardaí in 2020, she said. The court heard gardaí interviewed her and the defendant in relation to the complaint but she does not know what steps have been taken since that.

Seeking compensation

Under cross-examination by James McGowan SC, for the defendant, the woman acknowledged she previously brought proceedings for injuries suffered in a road traffic accident and on another occasion. She never claimed her action for alleged sexual abuse was not about seeking compensation, she said, adding: “I feel entitled to compensation.”

The jury was tasked with answering questions, being satisfied to the civil standard of proof of “on the balance of probabilities”.

Mr Justice Tony O’Connor awarded the plaintiff her costs. Mr McGowan asked for a stay on the orders so his client can consider appealing the decision. The judge will hear submissions on this on Wednesday.