Woman tells sex abuse trial she would have had husband locked up if she knew about abuse
The jury at the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin heard that the woman was “very, very angry” with her husband when she found out about her husband abusing their daughter. File picture
A woman accused of concealing the rape of her granddaughter by her son told gardaí that if her daughter had told her about the abuse by her husband she would have had him "locked up".
The mother, in her 60s, is on trial charged with assaulting her nephew and granddaughter and assisting one of her sons who allegedly anally raped her granddaughter. Her husband, also in his 60s, and three sons, aged in their 30s and 40s, are charged with numerous counts of sexually abusing four members of their extended family, who were all children at the time.
The court has heard that the alleged offences occurred between 1999 and 2005 in various locations around the country. The jury has been told that the complainants and the accused are all part of an extended family. There is a total of 126 counts on the indictment before the court. The five defendants deny all of the charges against them.
On Thursday, the jury heard this woman’s interview with gardaí, during which she said that if her daughter had told her about the abuse by her husband, she “would have had him locked up”. The woman said she was “very, very angry” with her husband when she found out.
She said she only became aware of all the allegations against her, her husband and sons during the interview with gardaí in November 2016, saying: “I knew nothing about it until ye told me today”.
She said that her solicitor told her about the DNA results, which showed her husband had fathered a child with her daughter and that she was shocked. She said the DNA report was the first time she became aware of any abuse within her family.
When portions of her daughter's statement were put to her, she replied: “I didn’t know a thing about it. She never mentioned a thing”. The woman also said she had never heard of a “machine” stick which was described by some complainants in the case as a plastic rod used to clean the chimney, which they say they were beaten with.
The woman continued to say she was unaware that her daughter was abused and that she didn’t know anything about it, adding: “I have nothing to hide”.
Garda interviews with the woman’s son who is in his 40s, the fifth accused in the trial, were also read to the court. Throughout his four interviews with gardaí, he denied the allegations that have been made against him by his sister, saying “ they are all false” and “she is telling lies”.
He has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges against his sister, including 23 charges of rape, five counts of sexual assault and three counts of oral rape.
He said he didn’t know until a few weeks before his interview in 2016 that his father was the father of his sister's child and that he thought this was “sick”. He said he had not spoken to his father about it.
He said that most of the times that his sister outlined that he was abusing her, “he was not around” and that he had “done nothing wrong”. He said that his sister “would want” DNA evidence to back up what she is saying about him adding: “Why wasn’t she pregnant if she was having sex with her brothers?”.
A portion of his sister's interview was read to him during interview, in which she said she was forced by him, two other brothers and their father to give him blowjobs and have anal and vaginal sex.
He replied: “I only do it the normal way. Only queers do that.” His defence counsel put it to Detective Garda Eileen O’Connor that this was an expression of revulsion regarding anal intercourse, which she agreed with.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and a jury.
The first accused, a man in his 60s, has pleaded not guilty to 25 charges, including two charges of anal rape of his granddaughter. He has also denied a total of 23 charges against his nephew — 12 charges of anal rape, 10 charges of oral rape and one charge of assault causing him harm.
The fourth accused, also in her 60s, is the mother of the three men and the wife of the first accused. She has pleaded not guilty to one count of while knowing that her son, the second accused, was guilty of anal rape, of concealing the effects by giving her granddaughter an adult diaper and convincing her not to return to her parents.
She has also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to her nephew, the first male complainant and her granddaughter.
The fifth accused, in his 40s, is also a son of the couple and the brother of the other two accused men. He has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges against his sister, the second female complainant, including 23 charges of rape, five counts of sexual assault and three counts of oral rape.
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