Jury finds man not guilty of indecently assaulting his niece
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin thanked the jury of nine men and three women at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for the time and attention they had given the case. The accused was discharged, as there was nothing further against him.
The alleged assault involved putting his hand down his niece’s shorts and inserting his fingers in her vagina. She alleged this occurred after he brought her to his home for what she described as photographs and video of her for a blue movie.
He denied all the claims and said her father — his brother — had inherited the family home and they were in dispute over the will. He said if it wasn’t for that, his niece would have made no allegation of sexual assault.
She testified her uncle told her he would photograph her when she was aged 13 or 14. “We went into the house. He brought me in. When we went in he said there was some other men going to take photographs, because he was my uncle and it would not be right [for him to photograph her].
“He would have other men take the photos, but he would be outside, so nothing would happen. He said he had to call them. He came back and he said they were not coming, they backed out.
“Because he was already there he may as well do it, he said. I felt really pressured. He said he had clothes I could wear. There was woman’s jeans, denim old-fashioned Wrangler jeans hacked up short... and a woman’s top cut up. I came up out of the bedroom. He had a big JVC camcorder on a tripod stand. It was facing a window. He asked me to start saying my name and my age and that I was still in school. I done that. He started taking photographs. He said to take my top off. He told me to leave my bra off. He told me to take my hands down [from her breasts], that the videos would be worth more money.”
She said she wanted to stop, he encouraged her to keep going, but eventually she stopped and went into a bedroom. She said he sat beside her on the bed, pushed her legs apart, pushed her underwear aside and put his fingers inside her for a few minutes.”
The accused denied this.
She also said he gave her an envelope sealed with an emblem stamped in wax like something from a century ago and he said it was photographs of a naked teacher in her school with whom he had an affair and he was going to blackmail her. She said she handed the sealed envelope to the teacher, who was shocked.
Defence barrister John Devlin had said there was no teacher of the name given by the accused in the school at that time, which a garda witness confirmed to the jury.
Uncle was accused of getting girl, aged 13 or 14, to pose topless for a blue movie that would make €1,000
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