Brothers who raped younger cousin on Cork farm when in their teens remanded in custody
Trial jury found one brother guilty of sexually assaulting his cousin twice and raping him anally once. They found the other brother guilty of oral rape twice and two counts of sexual assault. Picture: Larry Cummins
A teenage boy who was raped by his cousins in the 1990s told one of them to stop but “both boys laughed at him because he said to stop”.
That was the evidence of a detective garda, as two farming brothers were remanded in custody on Monday for raping and sexually assaulting another younger boy who is their cousin when they were all teenagers.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring was handed a large bundle of testimonials from neighbours and members of their community about their hard work and the positive roles they play in their area.
However, the judge said she did not see how a custodial sentence could be avoided. She adjourned her decision on sentencing until October 24 and remanded the two brothers, who have no previous convictions, in custody until October 24 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
During the summer, the case was brought against the two brothers for raping and sexually assaulting a younger cousin when he was staying at their home. The jury found one of them guilty of sexually assaulting his cousin twice and raping him anally once. They found his brother guilty of oral rape twice and two counts of sexual assault.
Ray Boland, prosecuting senior counsel, said all of the disputed events occurred in the 1990s when the complainant and the two defendants were in their early teens, the two accused being older than the victim.
Mr Boland said: “They used to play a game in the living room of the house. They would take turns being the farmer and the cows. This was innocent at first. It occurred in the good room — the parlour. In the game a bull would enter the room and the bull would mount the cow. They might have seen this occurring on the farm.
“This became more sinister and sexualised. There was also a game of mammies and daddies. They would all be wearing T-shirts and underwear. [The defendants] touched his [complainant’s] penis and genitals and tried to kiss him.”
Mr Boland said the bull aspect of the game returned when one of the brother’s put his penis in his cousin’s anus, and that the other defendant put his penis in the complaint’s mouth on two occasions, constituting oral rape.
In July, Ms Justice Ring agreed to defence senior counsel applications by Alice Fawsitt and Elizabeth O’Connell to remand the two accused on continuing bail until October 17 in order to attend to certain work-related matters on their farm in advance of sentencing.
Ms O’Connell SC said her client was found to be at a low level of cognitive ability and was — in a psychological report — deemed to be at low risk of re-offending, now being a hardworking man who is married with children.
Ms O’Connell handed in what she described as a bundle of testimonials from a local doctor, priest, peace commissioner, many neighbours and others who spoke about his respectable family background and the fact he is hardworking and obliging in his local community.
Ms O’Connell said the offending was preceded by games based on childhood observations of farm animals and the sexual offences developed from there when the accused was in his early teens and without maturity or a grasp of sexual matters.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring asked: “What about the view that it was two against one which would add to the inability of [victim] to rail against it?”
Ms O’Connell said each offence occurred when one defendant was with the complainant, not with the defendants acting together.
For the co-defendant, Alice Fawsitt SC referred to the testimonials about the assistance which he gives in his neighbourhood. She also submitted he has a serious illness and it was known ill-health made it more difficult to serve time in prison. And that serving a prison sentence for the first time is also a factor that made it more challenging.
Ms Fawsitt said her client was only one to two years older than the complainant and that “to all intents and purposes they were the same”.
The defence lawyer said while they did contest the case, when they were first confronted by the complainant about the allegations being made in 2016, the defendants said words to the effect that: “We were all young, we did not realise it affected you as much, why did you not come to us before? We would help you.”
Ms Justice Ring said this was said in the context of “mutual touching” but she added: “That was not the beginning and end of the serious element of it leading to penetrative sexual activity. There is nothing that constitutes remorse in that regard.”
The victim said his life had been a complete roller-coaster of emotions, including depression, anger, loneliness and pain that have held him back for about 30 years as the rape and sexual abuse haunted him and there were times he became suicidal.
“Thankfully, because of a higher power, someone watching over me or the little bit of hope I clung on to I did not follow through with taking my own life.”
He felt extremely lucky to be married to a woman who has helped him get through the darkest times but felt he missed out on the joy of the birth of their first child because that was when he revealed to his wife how he has been raped and sexually abused as a child by two older cousins.
He gravitated towards jobs where he worked alone as he felt it would allow him to suffer the pain and contain it.
“The cruel sexual and disgusting acts that [two cousins] committed on me have haunted me throughout my life.
“For many years, I thought there was something wrong with me, that I was different and did not belong. But I know now it was the power of the dirty secret I was carrying and the control of the sexual abuse [defendants] imposed upon me is what was wrong.
"I have suffered years of low self-esteem, complete lack of confidence and no belief in myself. Never feeling good enough for anything or anyone.”
He took to drinking until he would black out. Even in sleep he had horrific nightmares of what his cousins did to him many years before.
“It took so long to fully understand that two people I grew up with — my cousins whom I thought were my friends — actually only used me and controlled me to meet their own twisted sexual desires.
“In June of this year, I spent three days in the witness box. It was a harrowing experience having my life and character ripped apart under cross-examination but in a strange way it has actually helped me.
Every single question I was asked — no matter how important or insignificant it seemed at the time — actually helped me to finally offload the feelings of dirt and shame I carried for so many years. Those feelings were never mine to carry in the first place.”
He concluded by thanking the court, the gardaí, victims support, HSE counsellors, his family and most of all his wife “for being the one who dragged me out of my darkest days and always standing beside me”.
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