Court hears that man sexually abused girl in a field, a car park, and at a church
The man, who is in his 50s, was arraigned at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Waterford yesterday, Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. File picture
The trial of a man accused of 53 sexual offences — including more than 20 counts of rape — has heard allegations that he abused a young girl in his home, a church, a car park, and a field in Waterford.
The man, who is in his 50s, was arraigned at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Waterford yesterday.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The charges related to a period between the summer of 1999 and March 19, 2005, beginning a few months before the girl’s 10th birthday.
The complainant said she got to know the man when her family moved into a house across the road, around 1996. She recalled:
She told the court she came to know a boy two years younger than her who regularly stayed with the accused man and his wife. She agreed with prosecution counsel Garnet Orange that the accused man’s wife was a distant relative of one of her parents.
She told the court that she came to spend “nearly every weekend” with the couple and the boy.
“It was so much fun,” she said.
She outlined that her own parents were much stricter around meal times and treats than the accused man and his wife.
Earlier, in his opening statement, Mr Orange told jurors that it would be a difficult case and he urged them not to be “swayed by feelings or emotion”.
He said: “You must be clinical and dispassionate, almost cold. We are dealing with historic sex offences that are alleged to have occurred against a person aged between nine and 15 years of age.”
He said that “the more significant sex offences” are alleged to have occurred after July 2002, after the girl finished primary school.
He said that the girl and a sibling stayed “frequently across the road” in the home of the accused man, and the complainant continued to do so when her sibling stopped going there.
Mr Orange added that the girl “embraced the opportunity because she was introduced to all sorts of treats she didn’t have at home”, including board games.
He told the jury: “You are going to hear other evidence of a lifestyle being lived by the family.” He added that the complainant “was living her best life over there”.
He said the jury would hear of allegations of offences from the summer of 1999 in the man’s home.
He said that “things escalated” from the summer of 2002, with allegations including incidents at a neighbour’s bonfire in a field, in a church building, and a car park, all in Waterford, as well as in an “unidentified restaurant” in Kilkenny.
Mr Orange said the complainant “has had significant mental health issues going back over a significant period of time”.
“She will be telling you about them and the effect these mental health issues have had on her, her family and her ability to report [the allegations],” said told the court.
The case is being heard by a jury of seven men and five women, and is being presided over by Judge Patrick McGrath.
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