Cork child could only tell her teddy bears she was raped by brother-in-law, court hears

Now that she has made the complaint, and the defendant has been convicted, the woman said she is no longer going to let him control her life

The woman told the court she still has 'horrific nightmares' about the rapes. File picture: Larry Cummins

A child who was afraid to tell her parents or any adults that her older sister’s husband raped her said: “The only ones I said this to were my teddy bears.” In fact she kept the secret for 24 years until she eventually disclosed to gardaí the crimes that were committed against her when she was only 10 or 11 years old.

Earlier this year, a 12-man jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against a man who is now in his 60s for raping her twice and sexually assaulting her on occasions between January 1995 and December 1997.