Boy made false sex abuse claims, court hears

An adopted son of a radio personality accused of sexually molesting four young girls told a Central Criminal Court jury he made false allegations of sexual abuse against the accused.

The 17-year-old boy told defence counsel, Ms Iseult O'Malley BL, there was no truth in his allegations of being abused in the accused's home and in the mountains, and he had deliberately put in wrong details in his statement so that somebody might "cop on".

He said he had been pressured into making the allegations by his grandparents when he was living with them in England and he withdrew the statement as soon as he returned to Ireland.

The now 66-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to a total of 33 charges alleging sexual assaults on four females on dates from May 1974 to January 1989.

He denies one charge each of attempted carnal knowledge and attempted rape of two girls, and a further 31 charges of indecent assault involving them and two other girls, all of them under 15 years of age at the time.

The boy told Ms O'Malley (with Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC) he went to live with his grandparents after his natural parents split up.

He said when he was making his statement about the details of the abuse, he could either make the allegations or be "beaten every day" afterwards. He claimed his grandmother had made him make the allegations so that his mother would return to live with her.

When he returned to Ireland two years later, he went to a peace commissioner and withdrew the statement.

The boy said, in cross-examination by Mr Patrick J McCarthy C (with Ms Isobel Kennedy Bl), prosecuting, he had learned about peace commissioners and what they did in school. He asked his natural father to find a peace commissioner for him.

He said he did not discuss the details of the allegations with his father, who is a friend of the accused, or about withdrawing the statement with either his father or the accused.

He said he had often met the accused between when he came home and when the statement was withdrawn. He apologised to him and said everything was "forgiven and forgotten".

The trial has now reached its concluding stages and the jury of nine men and three women will begin its deliberations tomorrow after it has been addressed by both prosecuting and defence counsels and charged by Mr Justice John Quirke.