Father found guilty of raping son

A jury has convicted a Waterford father of raping his son from the age of six — but acquitted the child’s mother of having sex with the boy.

Jurors took just over seven hours to return the guilty verdicts on the 64-year-old, who cannot be named to protect his son’s identity. They also convicted him of one count of child cruelty relating to an incident when he locked his son in a box for six hours.

The jury acquitted him of charges that he raped the child with a hot poker. The boy’s mother was found not guilty of having sex or simulating sex with the boy at the behest of the father.

Jurors are still deliberating on a single count of child cruelty against the mother relating to the box incident. They will return on Monday.

Prosecuting counsel Pauline Walley SC asked Mr Justice Robert Eagar to remove the father’s bail. The judge remanded him in custody until Monday and declared him a sex offender.

The boy’s father faced nine counts of raping the boy; nine counts of raping the boy with a poker; and one count of cruelty. The mother faced two counts of sexual assault relating to allegations she had sex with the boy; and one count of cruelty.

Both parents pleaded not guilty to the crimes, which are alleged to have occurred between 2009 and 2011 in their Waterford home. The parents originally faced a total of 82 charges but 60 were withdrawn this week following legal argument.

The seven-week trial heard harrowing evidence including allegations that the father filmed the child having sex with the mother and showed the footage to visitors. Other allegations included that the father defecated on the child and threatened to kill him while holding a gun to his head.

The boy was taken into care just before his eighth birthday after telling his teacher his father had been beating him and he “couldn’t take it anymore”. He was sent to a foster home, where widespread sexual abuse occurred.

The boy was sent to another foster home after about a year. He trusted his new foster parents and said he felt safe enough there to begin disclosing the abuse. His foster mother recorded the claims in detailed logs which she gave to gardaí.

While in the second foster home, the boy began displaying highly disturbing and sexualised behaviour.

His foster mother told the trial she loved the boy dearly but could not handle his behaviour. The HSE was forced to send him to Britain for specialised residential treatment as no such treatment was available in Ireland. The last thing he said to his foster mother before leaving was “I feel like a dog that nobody wants”. The now 12-year-old remains in the care unit. He gave evidence via video-link from a room in the Old Bailey in London.

Gardaí found no fire poker or videos of sexual abuse during two searches of the home. They did find a video of the parents engaging in consensual sexual activity with another woman.

A medical examination of the child found no signs of abuse but the examining doctor pointed out that most sexual abuse does not leave lasting injuries and the examination was conducted three months after the child was taken out of the family home.

Both parents denied the abuse. The father said the boy was a difficult child and social workers had “brainwashed” the boy into making the allegations.