Elderly Limerick man accused of rape and sexual assault of a teenager 50 years ago

The complainant was aged between 13 and 16 years at the time of the alleged abuse. The accused is 10 years her senior and denies all charges

Wed, 18 Feb, 2026 - 10:44

Alison O'Reilly

An elderly Limerick father of three has gone on trial for the alleged rape and indecent assault of a teenager more than 50 years ago.

The 75-year-old man has been charged with 40 counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape between 1972 and 1973 at two addresses in Limerick.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aged between 13 and 16 years at the time of the alleged abuse. The accused is 10 years her senior and denies all charges.

The woman has given evidence at Limerick Criminal Court claiming she was raped on one occasion in the kitchen of her family home by the accused and indecently assaulted by him on numerous occasions at other times as a teenager.

The accused lived near the woman’s family home at the time of the alleged abuse and was friends with the complainant’s older brother.

On Tuesday, extracts from the woman’s statement to gardaí in November 2021 were read out in court during Garda Sergeant Marie Haugh’s evidence. At the time, she was the investigating officer before she was promoted out of the protective unit, and her colleague Detective Garda Claire Lewis took over the case.

Ms Haugh gave evidence about three interviews she conducted with the accused, which began on May 9, 2022, at Henry Street Garda Station following his arrest and caution. The accused came to the station a third time voluntarily to respond to gardaí’s questions about allegations of indecent assault and he was not arrested.

The court heard the woman claimed she was sexually abused from the age of 13 until before she left the family home between the ages of 15 and 18 and moved to Dublin with her sister.

At the time, the accused’s mother worked as a housekeeper for the complainant’s father, after he broke up with his wife following years of challenges between the former couple due to alcoholism and arguments.

In her statement to gardaí, the complainant said the abuse began when the accused “jeered and taunted” her about her body in front of two of her siblings.

She told gardaí: “I remember [the accused] coming into the living room, I was wearing jeans with a zip, he wore bell bottoms, I was so thin in those days.

An extract read in court from her statement said: “He tried to remove my jeans and put his fingers in my jeans and in my knickers and used his middle finger to rub around my vagina.

“He would then smell his middle finger and make crude remarks about the odour.”

When the allegation was put to the accused by gardaí, he claimed “nothing like that ever happened”, Ms Haugh said in court.

On another occasion, the accused told gardaí: “I remember him being erect and trying to penetrate my anus with my clothes on from behind, it became routine, it was sickening. When he was finished, he would kick me in the arse.”

When this allegation was put to the accused by gardaí, he said he was “never alone with her” and denied the woman’s claims, agreed Ms Haugh.

On a third occasion, the woman told gardaí she was sent to the housekeeper’s nearby home to check her pots had not boiled dry on the cooker.

She told gardaí in her statement which was read in court: “I remember being in front of the fire and the accused coming in. He caught me from behind, holding me tightly and restraining me, I don’t remember what I was wearing, but he put his hands down my trousers, and was rubbing my vagina with his finger. He then put his hands up my top. I felt his erect penis penetrating my vagina with his clothes on.”

When gardaí put the allegation to the accused and asked him did he remember the incident he replied that he didn't.

The accused was asked why the complainant would ever say this about him and the court was told he replied: “I am wondering too.”

The case continues.