Woman ‘angry’ when told file was never sent to DPP

An alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse has told the trial of a detective charged with forgery she was angry when she found out that a file on her case had never been sent to the DPP.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan, aged 48, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009, at Bray Garda Station, and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt St Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the DPP, dated January 14, 2009.

The woman testified the accused had previously informed her the DPP had received the file and was not going to prosecute the case.

A 44-year-old woman from Co Wicklow yesterday told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that in the 1980s, she was the victim of a sexual abuse by a local curate from the age of 16.

In 2005, she met with Detective Garda Joanne Hennessy to discuss her allegations. In February 2006, she said she wasn’t ready to make a formal complaint to gardaí. The following year, she said she decided she was prepared to go ahead with a garda investigation.

She contacted Det Gda Hennessy who told her she had moved station. The detective arranged for Garda McGowan to contact her.

The woman met the second detective in March 2007. She told the court: “The first thing I said was how much I was trusting her with this”.

She said the only contact after this was through text messages and phone calls up to September 2009 when she sent a text to the detective asking for an update. Garda McGowan rang her back and told her the DPP had said there would be no prosecution against her alleged abuser. She said she became very upset at this news.

“After that, I had a melt-down. I couldn’t believe it. I really thought it would go somewhere. I went back to counselling. I had suicidal thoughts,” she testified.

In 2011, she was contacted by Sergeant Diane Swift .

She said she came to learn the file on her allegations had not been sent to the DPP.

She told Patrick Marrinan, defending, she was upset, disappointed and angry and agreed she felt that she hadn’t received due process. She agreed that she didn’t think very highly of the accused at this point.

The file was sent for consideration to the DPP in the summer of 2011, and that the DPP directed no prosecution of her allegations.

She agreed with Mr Marrinan Garda McGowan was aware the complainant had a solicitor and was pursuing civil action against the curate, and that she was engaging with the Murphy Commission.

The trial continues.