Woman gets protection order against husband 'after he rapes their teenage daughter on holidays'

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A woman has secured a protection order against her husband after telling a court that he raped their teenage daughter on the family’s summer holiday last month.

At a behind-closed-doors hearing at a District Court in the south of the country, the woman alleged that the man also told his daughter that he would stab her mother and a brother if the mother quizzed him about what had taken place on their family holiday.

As part of her application for the protection order, the woman told the judge in attendance: “On the 16th of August, my husband raped and sexually assaulted our 15-year-old daughter.” The mother told the judge that the alleged rape took place in a bedroom in accommodation they were staying at on their holiday.

She told the judge: “I had no clue. I had no clue.” 

The woman stated that her daughter only told her of the alleged rape after the family had returned home.

The mother told the judge that after questioning her daughter “she said that he had sex with her”.

After her daughter’s disclosure, the woman said she brought her to hospital to be forensically examined.

The woman aid she has also informed the gardaí and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA) of the allegation and intends to make a formal statement with gardaí.

The woman told the judge that her own suspicions were raised by her own mother who said, concerning the woman’s husband, “don’t you think he is too loving towards your daughter?”.

Prior to her daughter’s disclosure about the alleged rape and after the family were back in Ireland after the holiday, the woman said that one evening at home she found her husband and their daughter in her bedroom with her daughter standing in her underwear “and she was really frightened”.

The woman said her husband then took her daughter for a drive.

The mother said she later asked her daughter “did Daddy touch you?” After the daughter’s disclosure concerning the alleged rape on holiday, the mother told the court: “I was just in complete shock. I couldn’t work anymore that day.” The mother stated that her daughter told her that her father also asked to have sex with her on the drive but that she refused.

The woman also told the court: “The man is being verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards me.” The woman said she has moved out of the family home with the children.

The judge granted the woman a protection order.