Man accused of raping sister

A Dublin man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court for raping his sister regularly in their family home 40 years ago.

The man (aged 55), who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of raping his younger sister between May 1970 and September 1972.

The now 38-year-old complainant told Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that her brother would rape her in the bathroom twice a week after school when she was aged between eight and 11 years.

She said her brother would never say anything to her during the sex, which only lasted one or two minutes, and that he would leave her alone in the bathroom afterwards.

The woman told Ms Kennedy (with Ms Martina Baxter BL) that she would have to keep her soiled underwear for the next day since her family were poor and could only afford her one pair.

She agreed with Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that she first complained to gardaí about another brother and her father raping her before making a subsequent statement about his client’s alleged abuse.

She agreed she described this other brother bribing her with food for sex because he knew she was hungry.

The woman said the other brother, who is not on trial, would sometimes throw bits of chicken from his plate into the living room fire as she watched because he enjoyed the control he had over her.

She agreed she told gardaí that he would let her lick his plate or have some batter off his burger for oral sex and that her father, whom she described as a “cruel man”, raped her when she was five years old.

The woman agreed with Mr Hartnett that she moved out of home when she was around 15 years old but denied she told gardaí his client stopped abusing her around that time.

She told Mr Hartnett that his client stopped the alleged rapes when she was around 11 years old but that the other brother continued abusing her until she moved away.

The trial continues before Mr Justice John Edwards and a jury of seven women and five men.