A Louth woman has told the Central Criminal Court she arrived home only moments after a neighbour allegedly sexually abused her 16-year-old daughter.
"He looked very flustered, he was sweating," she told a jury. She twice broke down in the witness box and said she regretted not questioning her neighbour when she saw him in the house. "He was a good friend. You don't want your mind running away with you," she said.
Her daughter alleges the man began sexually abusing her when she was aged eight. "The whole thing has been a nightmare," her mother told the jury. She told prosecuting counsel, Mr Gerald Clarke SC, that on February 9th, 1997, she, her husband and her son arrived home by car.
She noticed the curtains in her daughter's bedroom moved as they approached. The back door was locked and this was something she found strange. Their neighbour opened the door and she brushed past him. She saw her daughter coming out of the bathroom and asked her why their neighbour was in the house. Her daughter replied that the man wanted to speak to "Daddy" and had come further into the house to use the toilet.
The woman recalled other times when the accused man took her daughter on trips to buy chips in a town 10 miles away. He would also sometimes take her to the sea "to watch the boats come in".
The 53-year-old accused man has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of indecent assault, three of forced oral sexual intercourse, three charges of having unlawful carnal knowledge when the alleged victim was under 15 years and one charge of unlawful carnal knowledge of her.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Smith.