Sligo woman tells court details of alleged rape by father

The teenage daughter of a Sligo man has told a Central Criminal Court jury that he called her a “whore” as he raped her and kicked her in the face when she later called him a “pervert.”

The 45-year-old man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of sexual assault on dates between September 2005 and June 2006.

The girl was aged between 14 and 15-years-old at the time of the alleged offences.

The now 19-year-old woman, giving evidence via video link, told Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that her father used to come into her bedroom and “touch me up.” She said he would put his fingers into her “private bits” or touch her breasts under her clothes.

She said she would be asleep and would wake up and he would be “at it.”

She said on the first occasion she woke up and found him touching her intimately. She said he told her “another five minutes” and that he would give her money the next day if she let him do what he wanted.

She said it happened “not every night but most nights.” She said she would be upset and when she woke up she told him to get off her but he wouldn’t.

She told Ms Kennedy that on one occasion when she was 15-years-old she took a shower while her father was out getting petrol. She said she got out of the shower and went to her bedroom wrapped in a towel.

She said at that point her father, who had returned, came into her bedroom and pinned her on the bed.

The woman said the towel fell off and her father pulled down the Adidas tracksuit bottoms he was wearing. She said he was putting his full body weight on her as she lay underneath him on the bed.

She said her father raped her on the bed and she struggled to get away. She said the alleged incident lasted 10 or 15 minutes. She said her father called her a whore towards the end when she said she would scream.

She said she felt dirty, upset and confused afterwards. She said she dressed, came downstairs and went to a friend’s house. She said she knew a particular friend of her father was in the house because she heard his laugh.

The woman told Ms Kennedy that on a later occasion she called her father “a pervert” and he kicked her in the face. She said she went to her friend’s house afterwards and told her what had happened.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne and a jury of four women and eight men.