Abuse victim stands over allegations against ex-garda

Cynthia Owen says that she stands over all the allegations she made against Frank Mullen and others regarding her abuse, according to a statement issued yesterday.

Ms Owen was responding to an article in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, in which Mr Mullen denied all of the allegations against him, and said that the affair has had a devastating impact on him and his family.

Ms Owen has alleged that Mr Mullen was a member of a paedophile ring in Dalkey, Co Dublin, to which she was hired out as a child by her parents.

She also claimed that Mr Mullen, a former garda, was involved in the cover-up of the murder of her daughter, to whom she gave birth as a result of rape in 1973, when she was aged 11.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Mullen denied all of the allegations, and said he had decided to tell his story in public in order to clear his name.

Yesterday, Ms Owen said she stood over all the allegations.

“It is not for me to address every point Mr Mullen makes in his interview but, by his own admission, he has not been cleared of his involvement in the abuse I suffered and the murder of my daughter as a result of that abuse,” said Ms Owen.

Mr Mullen said he felt that the gardaí had not properly vindicated his innocence, because, he claims, the allegations were not examined in full detail.

Ms Owen went to say that she had been found to be credible by the HSE and by “the psychologist hired by the gardaí to assess my mental health”.

“I have been calling for a sworn inquiry and now repeat that call as otherwise the truth will not come out,” she said.

Ex Garda Frank Mullen and his wife

The allegations have been investigated a number of times by the gardaí, but on eight occasions the DPP has ruled there was no case for a prosecution. A review of the case by a senior counsel in 2007 came to the conclusion that no further inquiry was merited.

In 2011, a HSE inquiry stated that it found Ms Owen “credible and consistent”, but also told Mr Mullen that no allegations against him were proved.

Just last year, a review panel set up to look at more than 200 cases of alleged malpractice by the gardaí found there was no case for a fuller inquiry in relation to Ms Owen’s allegations.

Frank Mullen, 78, told the Irish Examiner that he had come forward in order to clear his name.

“We’re five generations in Dalkey,” he said of his family. “And I couldn’t leave a legacy like that behind me. I had to clear my name before I departed this world.”