Sisters ‘ruined’ by brother’s sex abuse

Two sisters who were sexually abused by their older brother throughout their childhood spoke openly yesterday of how he had ruined their lives.

Gerard O’Connor, aged 57, of 27 Grange Vale, Pinecroft, Grange, pleaded guilty to 33 counts of indecently assaulting his younger sisters, Annmarie and Margaret, at the family home at 4 O’Riordan’s Terrace, Tramore Rd, Cork, effectively throughout the 1970s when they were children and he was a young man.

The sisters wanted him named in reports of the case and, unusually, had no difficulty with their own names being published too, prosecution barrister Ray Boland said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.