Court hears claim of sex assaults at Communion party

A young girl suffered two sexual assaults carried out by her neighbour at a First Communion party for her sister, it has been alleged in court.

The family friend, who is 37, has gone on trial at Letterkenny Circuit Court after he pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault at the girl’s home in Co Donegal on April 24, 2010. The man cannot be named to protect his alleged victim.

Patricia McLaughlin, prosecuting, told the court yesterday the defendant had been invited to the First Communion party. Children were playing in the house while some of the adults had been drinking wine, she said.

The defendant, it is alleged, had sat beside the alleged victim on the sofa and had sexually assaulted her while other children were playing games. Later the same day the girl had been upstairs in her mother’s bedroom when the defendant sexually assaulted her again as she read a First Communion book.

The girl, who was 10 at the time of the alleged assault, is now 15 years old. The allegations came to light when the alleged victim told her sister, who in turn told their mother.

A video of the young girl in which she was interviewed by a social worker, was shown in court. The girl, who was wearing her school uniform, told of what allegedly happened at the party.

The trial continues today.