No joy only relief for Marcella as ordeal finally ends

Marcella Breslin did not jump for joy or whoop when a jury awarded her €2.8m damages.

Raped and sexually assaulted as a child by a trusted family member — her godfather, Patrick Gillespie — she considered suicide at the age of 16.

Not only did she have to give evidence in the criminal trial which saw Gillespie convicted and jailed in 2008 for her rape and sexual assault, she has also had to endure the pain of her case causing a rift in her wide, extended family.