Man accused of raping brother and putting shotgun in his mouth

The man, aged 36, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is also accused of beating his younger brother “nearly every day” until his brother left the family home when he was 16.

 A Dublin man has gone on trial accused of orally raping his younger brother and putting the barrel of a loaded shotgun in his mouth.

The man, aged 36, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is also accused of beating his younger brother “nearly every day” until his brother left the family home when he was 16.

He is accused of hitting his younger brother with a baton with nails in it on one occasion and on another occasion throwing darts at his foot.

The accused has pleaded not guilty before the Central Criminal Court to ten sample counts of oral rape at the family home in Dublin on dates between March 28, 2001 and March 27, 2006.

He has also pleaded not guilty to seven counts of assault causing harm and one of count of production of an article to unlawfully intimidate at the same address during the same period.

On the opening day of the trial, the complainant told Paul Carroll SC, prosecuting, that he was 11 or 12 years old the first time something “not good” happened.

Beaten 'nearly every day'

The complainant told Mr Carroll that he got “hidings” from his older brother and that he was “battered” with baseball bats. He said he was hit with baseball bats a number of times.

He said he was also hit with weapons, hurleys and sticks. He said he was beaten up “nearly every day” until he left the family home when he was 16 years old.

The complainant said his older brother made him perform oral sex on two occasions when he was 11 years old. He said the first time ended when another of his brothers walked in.

He said he did this because his brother told him to do it and because he was a child. He said his brother pushed his head down with his hands while this was happening.

He said he could not remember if his brother ejaculated on either occasion. He said he felt “sick, confused, lost” after this happened.

Loaded shotgun

The complainant testified that one night his brother called him downstairs to the kitchen and put the barrel of a loaded shotgun in his mouth. He said he was “very scared” and could not remember what his brother was saying.

He said his brother once hit him with a baton with nails in it leaving him with holes on his back. He said on another occasion he went to hospital after his brother threw darts at his foot.

The complainant said his brother told him to “rob” houses nearly every day. He said his brother would sell anything he took and give him a “hiding” if he did not take anything.

He said his older brother made him and another of his brothers fight.

The complainant told Kathleen Leader SC, defending, that he did not remember ever being caught breaking into houses during that period, but agreed he had been caught breaking into a house in 2013. He agreed he gave a false name to gardaí in 2012.

'Fear and shame'

Ms Leader asked the man what was stopping him making a complaint to gardaí before he made a complaint in 2018. The man replied that “fear and shame” stopped him, saying that he still had fear now and that it was “bred into him”.

Counsel suggested that the reason he had not made a complaint until then in relation to sexual matters is because they did not happen. She said her client accepts there was physical violence, but says it was not to the extent the complainant says and that he was “grossly exaggerating”.

Ms Leader suggested that if there was violence on a daily basis there would be “lots of hospital records” and that he would not have been able to carry on as a normal child. The man said he was never a normal child and he “never had a normal childhood”.

Counsel said that when the man gave a statement to gardaí he did not tell them that another of his brothers had walked in during the first incident of alleged sexual assault. She suggested that if it happened it was something he would have said to gardaí.

The complainant told counsel he was made to hide guns in the garden of his next-door neighbour. He rejected the submission of counsel that if he was doing this on a regular basis that somebody would know.

Ms Leader suggested that the complainant would remember if his older brother had ejaculated or not and that this was another reason the offences did not happen.

The trial continues before Justice Michael White and the jury.