Victim: Alleged rapes 'have left me suicidal'

A teenager who alleges she and her friend were repeatedly sexually assaulted as children by a barman at a Co Mayo pub has told a Central Criminal Court jury that the alleged offences have ruined her life and left her suicidal.

The 39-year-old accused man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of sexual assault and 13 counts of oral rape against one girl; also 14 counts of sexual assault, 13 counts of oral rape and one count of anal rape against the second child on dates between June 1999 and September 2000.

The girls were between eight and ten years old at the time of the alleged offences.

The first complainant, now 19-years-old, earlier in the trial gave evidence that she and her best friend would go to her mother's work place after school and had developed the practice of watching cartoons in a nearby pub where they regularly used the toilet.

She alleged that they began to be sexually abused together during their visits there by the accused who was a bar man.

The second complainant, now also 19-years-old, told Ms Deirdre Murphy SC, prosecuting, that she remembered the accused asking them if they wanted to see a mans' private parts. She said they must have agreed because the following day he brought them to a seating area in the pub took out his private parts and asked did they want to touch it.

She said their visits “were always the same” - if he shook his head when they came in nothing would happen but if he nodded they went to a quiet area of the pub and he sexually abused them.

She said they would masturbate him and give him oral sex and he would touch them. She said one of them would masturbate him and when that girl got tired or her arm was sore the other would take over. She said it happened about two times a week. She remembered a disgusting taste in her mouth from the oral sex.

The second complainant said he also began to touch them inappropriately by putting his hand down her tracksuit bottoms, touching her private parts or licking her breasts and telling her this would make them grow.

She said he would ejaculate in front of them into his hand and then wash his hands.

She said he would give them money and he gave her friend cider and cigarettes.

She recalled one occasion when he kept asking her if he could put his private parts into her backside and she eventually agreed. She said he turned her around, put his hands on her hips and put his private parts into her anus. She said it was very sore and she told him to stop three or four times before he did.

She said the abuse stopped after her friend told her about an incident where she was sexually assaulted by the accused when she was alone. She said they decided he was “getting vicious” so decided to stop going to the pub.

She agreed with Ms Murphy that she went to the gardaí to make a complaint about the alleged abuse in December 2008.

She agreed with defence counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC (with Mr Eoin Garavan BL), that she did not appreciate that this behaviour was wrong at the time and believed it was normal behaviour.

She told Mr Gageby that if the accused shook his head when they came into the pub they would simply pretend they were going to the toilet and then leave. She said they would not be sexually abused if there were people in the pub.

She agreed that she was sore after the accused man had anal sex with her. She said she could not remember if she bled afterwards but agreed her mother did her washing at the time.

She denied a suggestion by Mr Gageby that there had been no indecency. “He has ruined my life, he has me suicidal,” she said.

A friend of the first complainant told Ms Murphy that she had gone into the toilets of the pub with her friend on one occasion. She said she went into a cubicle while the accused and her friend remained outside.

She said something happened and she was afraid when they told her to come out. She said she came out with her hands over her eyes and did not want to look. She said when she looked she saw the accused had his trousers down.

She said the accused man told her “you looked” and she thinks she just walked out.

The witness agreed with Mr Gageby that she had babysat for the accused man on some occasions until about three or four years ago and had been in his house.

Former primary school teachers of the girls described the first complainant as lively, chatty, fun and of above average intelligence; they described the second complainant as quiet, warm, unassuming and of average intelligence.

The first complainant’s mother told Ms Murphy that she was happy with the arrangement of the children watching TV in the pub and said the accused man told her it was ok.

She said she remembered walking into the bar to check on them on one occasion and saw them sitting on two high stools eating crisps with the accused behind them with his hands on the chairs.

She said another time she came in her daughter was behind the bar and the accused told her she was helping him stock the bar. She said she thought nothing of it because she trusted the accused man.

The second complainant’s mother told Ms Murphy that she knew her daughter was going to the pub with her friend after school. She said she noticed a change in her daughter after her first communion and said the girl would never kiss or cuddle and became scruffy in her appearance.