Judge grants protection order after being told man raped teenage daughter

A woman has secured a protection order against her husband after telling a court that he raped their teenage daughter on the family’s summer holiday last month.

At Ennis District Court, the woman alleged the man also told his daughter that he would stab her mother and a brother if the mother quizzed him about what had taken place on their family holiday.

As part of her application for the protection order, the woman told Judge Patrick Durcan that on a day last month:“My husband raped and sexually assaulted our daughter.”

The mother told Judge Durcan the alleged rape by the man took place in a bedroom in accommodation they were staying at on their holiday. She told Judge Durcan: “I had no clue. I had no clue.”

The woman said her daughter told her of the alleged rape only after the family had returned home. The mother told Judge Durcan that after questioning her daughter “she said that he had sex with her”.

After her daughter's disclosure, the woman said she brought her daughter to hospital to be forensically examined. The woman said she also informed the gardaí and Tusla – Child and Family Agency of the allegation.

The woman said her own suspicions were raised by her own mother who said, concerning the woman’s husband, “Don’t you think he is too loving towards your daughter?”

Prior to her daughter’s disclosure but after the holiday, the woman said one evening at home she found her husband in a bedroom with her daughter who was standing in her underwear “and she was really frightened”.

The woman said her husband then took her daughter for a drive. The mother said she later asked her daughter “Did Daddy touch you?”

After the daughter’s disclosure concerning the alleged rape on holiday, the mother told the court: “I was just in complete shock.”

The mother stated that her daughter told her that her father also asked to have sex with her on the drive but that she refused.

The woman told the court: “The man is being verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards me.” Judge Durcan granted the woman a protection order.