Stepfather used dog lead during abuse

A woman whose stepfather put a dog lead around her neck and sexually assaulted her as a child has condemned him for betraying her love and trust in him.

George Crombie told his stepdaughter there would be “murder in this flat” if she told her mother about the abuse, which took place over a three-year period when she was aged between 10 and 13 years old.

“How could I ever get over what my stepfather, who I loved and trusted, did to me as a 10-year-old girl,” Laura Johnston, now in her 20s, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday in an emotional victim impact statement. The court heard she wished to waive her right to anonymity.