Woman to be asked for statement on garda abuse claim as search for baby ends

GARDAÍ are to seek a statement from the woman at the centre of a garden dig for a dead baby boy on new allegations that a garda sexually abused her.

Senior officers yesterday morning ended a search for a baby at a house in south Dublin after they had found no signs of human remains.

A woman, calling herself Niamh, had told gardaí she gave birth to a child in 1976, when she was 15, and the stillborn baby was buried in the back garden of her childhood home in Dalkey. The woman originally made these claims to gardaí in 1995, several months after she had told them that a murdered baby found in Dun Laoghaire in April 1973 was hers.

Niamh said she was just 11 when she gave birth to this child and her mother stabbed the baby to death and dumped the body in a lane in Dun Laoghaire.

Prior to this, in 1994, Niamh told gardaí she had been sexually abused by her father and a brother. She later told gardaí about the pregnancies, which she said were the result of sexual abuse. Garda sources have said the information from Niamh, a result of regression therapy, has been “sketchy”.

Garda investigations in 1994 and 1995 resulted in a number of files being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The DPP ruled against prosecution on the grounds of lack of independent evidence and the passage of time.

The woman’s parents have denied any involvement in murder or sexual abuse.

A brother of Niamh’s committed suicide in the mid 1990s and the body of another brother, who disappeared in 2002, was found earlier this year. Another family member committed suicide in recent months. In a note, she also said she was sexually abused.

In recent days, allegations emerged in the media, attributed to Niamh, claiming a garda had been brought to the family home in the 1970s and that he abused her.

Garda sources yesterday said Niamh was “saying things now that she never said before.” A garda said they would be “talking to her in depth” and getting a formal statement.

Garda sources believe while Niamh has had an “horrific childhood” she might not be a credible witness as her recollections would be strongly contested in court.

Gardaí could ask people suspected of abusing Niamh to be interviewed voluntarily, but are unlikely to have sufficient new evidence to arrest them.