Father defecated on victim, court told

A child who was allegedly sexually abused and neglected by his parents claimed that his father defecated on him as part of the abuse, a jury has heard.

The latest allegations came from the child’s second foster mother, who was giving evidence on day 11 of the trial at the Central Criminal Court.

The child had a good relationship with this foster mother and earlier told the jury that he felt safe enough with her to disclose the alleged sexual abuse.

He has previously alleged his father raped him, sexually abused him with a hot poker, and forced him to have sex with his mother over the course of several years from when he was about six years old.

The father is alleged to have filmed some of these incidents and shown them to others. He is further alleged to have held a gun to the child’s head and to have left him locked in a box.

The boy’s biological parents face a total of 82 charges of abuse between 2007 and 2011 in Waterford. The father and mother have pleaded not guilty to 16 counts each of sexual exploitation and one charge each of child cruelty.

The mother has also denied 16 counts of sexual assault, while the father denies 16 counts of anal rape and 16 counts of sexual assault with a poker.

Yesterday, the second foster mother told prosecuting counsel Pauline Walley SC how the then eight-year-old did not like having showers because he “didn’t want that man in there with him”, referring to his father. He said his father used to sexually abuse him in the shower.

He also alleged that his father threatened to “fucking kill him” if he told anyone. The second foster mother told him he was very brave for telling her and that she “loved him to bits”.

She said the boy used to think that he might hurt her by telling about such things and that she would cry sometimes as she listened to him. The witness became visibly upset at several points during her evidence.

“He had a great little heart,” the woman told the jury. “I told him there was nothing he could ever tell me that would make me stop loving him.”

On another occasion, the boy told her his father would play a “game” where he would be raped with a hot poker. He said his father would call him a “gay faggot” afterwards and would “urinate and poo on him”.

She said the boy told her: “I don’t like the stick game, it hurts too much.”

She told the child she “loved him to bits and that it wasn’t his fault”.

She told the court that when the child wanted to talk about something difficult, he would tell his foster mother he wanted to talk about “something from his toy box”. The witness explained that the toy box was an analogy for his mind and that his toys were overflowing thoughts he needed to talk about.

After talking, he would say he felt “freedom”, she told the court. This meant he felt better about disclosing things, the second foster mother said.

The jury previously heard the boy stayed with this foster family until 2013 when he was sent into residential care in the UK, where he remains.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Robert Eagar and a jury.