A YOUNG Co Offaly woman told a jury her father had sex with her when she was aged 12 and in bed recovering from an operation. He had sex with her again in 1993 when she was 14, she claimed at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Dr Maura Skelly, who is attached to Longford Westmeath Hospital, said she examined the teenager on December 17th, 1993 and found she was not a virgin. Her findings suggested sexual intercourse with full penetration had taken place on a number of occasions.
In reply to Mr Joseph Mathews SC, prosecuting, the woman, who is now 18, agreed she had made entries in her diary for 1993 alleging sexual activity, including sexual intercourse, with her then boyfriend, who was two years older than her.
She claimed the entries were not correct and she said she wrote them in an attempt to discover if someone was reading her diary.
She never had sex with her boyfriend but they once had their "tops off". On another occasion her boyfriend had intended to carry out penetration but it did not happen, she said.
Her father, a 41 year old widower and father of five, has denied charges of rape, having unlawful carnal knowledge and sexual assault of his daughter in or about March 1991 and again in July 1993.
He has also denied sexually assaulting her on a date between April 1991 and May 1993.
The Leaving Certificate student told Mr Mathews she made her Confirmation in either February or early March 1991 and had her appendix removed about a week later. She stayed home from school to recover for a few weeks and one morning, when her brothers and sister were out, she awoke to find her father lying on top of her. "He was inside me, hurting me", she said.
She said she was crying but her father told her to stop. He was also touching her on her breast and back. Afterwards she said she "did not feel safe" in her own bed so she got into her sister's bed. Some time later she had a bath before going back to her sister's bed.
She recalled another occasion when he allegedly touched her but not on her private parts. In the summer of 1993, he again had sexual intercourse with her, she alleged.
The trial before Mr Justice Morris continues.