Father 'admitted to abusing daughter years ago', court hears

The family of a woman who claims she was repeatedly indecently assaulted as a child by her father in a car in Co. Kildare have claimed that the man admitted the abuse in the course of a heated argument about 16 years ago.

The 62-year-old Carlow resident, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four counts of indecent assault against his daughter in Co. Kildare on dates between November 1981 and March 1984.

The now 41-year-old complainant was aged between 12 and 15 years old during the alleged offences.

The woman’s sister told Mr Sean Gillane SC (with Mr Daniel Boland BL), prosecuting, that she was with her mother, the accused, her husband and the complainant in a local pub when an argument started between her and her father, the accused.

She said she confronted him about sexually abusing her sister. “He was not happy,” she said, “so we went back to the house to talk about it.”

She said they went to the kitchen and she confronted him again. He was quite aggressive and denied it. She said she put the allegations to him again and he continued to deny them.

The woman said when the complainant interjected and said “you know you did it”, her father then “admitted he did it”. She said he appeared “anxious and angry and quite aggressive”.

The woman told Mr Michael O'Higgins SC (with Ms Siobhán Ní Chúlacháin BL), defending, that she had learned of the abuse a short time before the argument when her sister called to her house one night to speak to her.

She denied that she and her family had discussed why there had been not guilty verdicts returned in a previous trial concerning similar allegations and how things might be different this time around.

“No, this time around we just want justice because we deserve it,” she told Mr O’Higgins.

She agreed that her father had always denied any allegations in relation to abusing her.

She said the argument where she had confronted her father lasted about two hours and she agreed there was “lots of roaring and shouting” as well as “allegation and counter allegation”.

She agreed allegations of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse as well as of general aggression were made.

She told Mr O’Higgins she believed there was reference to the term “sexual abuse” during the row when he put it to her that phrase had only come into “popular parlance” relatively recently.

She denied that things that had been said in the course of a two-hour family argument over 16 years ago were “seized upon and distorted” in her statement.

The mother of the complainant told Mr Gillane she was in the pub with her daughters when she learned of the allegations and the accused was confronted. She said he told them “this is not the place for it” and they went to her daughter’s home.

She said the allegations were put to him again back at the house and he replied that he could not help it and that "his two sisters had done it to him". She said the complainant's sister asked him to go and get “care”, but he did not.

She told Mr O’Higgins that she did have an “actual memory” of the events and agreed that she was treated for alcoholism but said that her drinking had only been heavy for about a year before hand.

She agreed with Mr O’Higgins that she “did not have a good word to say” about her husband.

The complainant’s brother-in-law said the party returned to his house after the initial confrontation at the pub. He said he could not remember the conversation at the house “word for word” but that it concerned abuse. He said the accused appeared shaken and shocked and sat with his head bowed.

The man said he had a conversation with the accused afterwards about his own daughter and the accused told him “I can control it now, I can stop”.

The trial continues before Judge Frank O’Donnell and a jury of nine men and three women.