'I never sexually abused my son', says accused

A man accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting his son over a period of three years has denied the allegations and accused his son of lying his way through his evidence at the Central Criminal Court.

The 52-year-old accused told the jury: “What I am being accused of you would not do to an animal.”

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of anal rape; 12 charges of oral rape; 24 charges of sexual assault and one charge of the wilful neglect or ill-treatment of the boy on dates between April 11, 2001 and June 23, 2004.

The offences are alleged to have occurred while the child was aged between 12 and 15 years old.

The accused told defence counsel, Mr David Goldberg SC, that his relationship with his son had been “very good, excellent” before the allegations. He said they used to go fishing and he would taking him to sporting activities.

He said his son had been initially a “pleasant” boy but around the age of 12 or 13 he changed completely and would “fly off the handle”.

He told Mr Goldberg: “I never sexually abused my son, never.”

He said that after his son went into care he would visit him as the child was bored. He said he brought him out to play pool and on day trips. He said they would chat and talk about home.

He said the boy came home for a weekend at one stage and refused to leave the house for a time.

The accused said he met up with his son again after the boy rang and told him he was sorry.

He said his son told him he wanted to retract his allegations. He said he told his son that he would have to go and do that alone.

He agreed with Mr Goldberg that he later learned his son had not retracted the statement.

The accused agreed with Ms Delia Flynn SC, prosecuting, during cross examination, that he had said during garda interview that the boy was his favourite child and he told her he was proud of him.

He said his relationship with his son had not changed but that the boy himself had changed around the time he went into secondary school. He said his son had no reason to be afraid of him.

He said that “in hindsight it was probably not a good idea” to allow his 12-year-old son to baby-sit while he was at the pub or at functions. He said his son sometimes asked to baby-sit and said if he had come to him to say he no longer wished to do it he would have stopped the practice.

He said he found a knife, spoon and other items of cutlery in his son's bed. He said he found it unusual but later recalled his son liked to eat in bed.

He told Ms Flynn his son may have made the allegations as “revenge” and recalled his son telling him “his head was all over the place”.

“What I am being accused of you would not do to an animal,” the man said.

The accused told Ms Flynn: “If someone was doing that to me I would get as far away as possible”. When asked where a child would go to get help he replied: “Anywhere, I would get help as soon as possible.”

He said: “If something like that is going on you know it’s wrong no matter what age you are.”

Ms Flynn asked him if he accepted it was difficult for his son to make the allegations. He said: “It was not difficult for him, he had no problem.”

When asked if it appeared to him his son found it easy to give his evidence in court, he replied: “He seemed to get through it easily, lying his way through it.”

Ms Flynn asked him if he though it was easy for his son to tell lies, he replied: “Seems to be, everything he said was a lie.”

He denied a suggestion by Ms Flynn that his son would have access to pornography channels and said they were not included in the Sky package he paid for.

Before the close of the prosecution case, a consultant orthopedic surgeon, who had treated the boy after he fell and injured his wrists at school, told Ms Flynn that the boy was referred on to his larger hospital after presenting at his local hospital.

He said the boy was diagnosed with fractures in both his wrists after being admitted at about 9pm. He said the boy complained of pain and swelling.

He said the boy was operated on the following day and his arms placed in plaster casts.

The man told Mr Goldberg said that apart from it being a relatively unusual injury to see in a young person it was an ordinary presentation of fractured wrists.

He agreed that hospital records noted that the boy had last eaten at 8.30pm.

He said it was not unusual for people to be kept overnight before they are operated on and the boy “may well not have been” operated upon on the day he arrived even if he had arrived earlier.

He agreed that that the splints the boy had been placed in at his local hospital before his parents brought him to the larger hospital would have reduced his discomfort. He agreed the boy also had painkilling medication.

He agreed the boy had a good result but said he had no long term results, only notes for five weeks after the initial presentation.

The principal of a secondary school where the boy attended told Ms Flynn the boy started there in 2001 and remained a student until his junior certificate year.

The witness told Mr Goldberg during cross examination that the boy was no problem for the first two years but became boisterous in his third year. He said this was not unusual in teenage boys.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of seven men and five women.