Woman claims she was 'in a state of panic and shame' after alleged abuse by former sports coach
The complainant told the court: 'I was so ashamed of my behaviour. Good Catholic Ireland, what I was doing to his wife. How dare I... I was just in a state of panic and shame that I could do that to his wife.'
A woman who says she was abused by a former sports coach has said she was “in a state of panic and shame” after an alleged incident.
The 79-year-old man is charged with 74 counts of sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s. He has pleaded not guilty to 73 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.
The offences are alleged to have occurred in various locations in the State on dates between 1971 and 1981 when the complainants were aged between 10 and 15 years old, the court heard.
The man pleaded guilty before the jury to a further five counts of indecently assaulting one of these complainants on dates between May and September 1976. He can’t be named for legal reasons.
The jury have heard that it is the prosecution’s case that the alleged abuse took the form of kissing, inappropriate touching, digital penetration, forced oral sex and — in relation to one complainant — attempted rape.
On Wednesday, the second complainant told James Dwyer SC, prosecuting, that she remembered babysitting for the man on one occasion, during which she said he touched her.
The man has denied two counts of indecently assaulting this woman on dates between 1975 and 1977.
Giving her evidence by videolink from another country, she described being in bed and the man coming into the room, then putting his hands under the bedsheets. She said he touched her torso, breasts and moved down towards her legs. She said she had no memory of her private parts being touched.
“When you are so ashamed, shame sticks in your brain,” the woman said. “I don’t know if I babysat on another occasion, but that night I won’t forget.”
When asked to describe the touching, the woman said: “I suppose fondling or massaging, if it was a positive touching, would describe it the best.”
She said she was 10 or 11 at the time of this incident. She then told the jury there had been a second incident when she was 13 or 14 at a sports facility.
She said the man had touched her under her clothes. She said his hand was on her breasts, torso and hip and she had no memory of her private parts being touched.
She said: “I was so ashamed of my behaviour. Good Catholic Ireland, what I was doing to his wife. How dare I... I was just in a state of panic and shame that I could do that to his wife.”
The woman said she did not continue with the sport after this incident. “I didn’t want to give up, but I was lost on earth. I couldn’t go back either.”
She told the jury that she couldn’t say how long each incident lasted, but thought between one minute and five minutes.
Under cross-examination by Patrick Gageby SC, defending, she said this incident was the “deciding factor” in her decision to give up the sport. She said the man phoned her parents, asking when she would come back.
Referring to the first alleged incident, she agreed that she was around 11 years old at the time and that it occurred before the alleged incident at the sports facility.
Mr Gageby asked her if there was tickling involved in the first incident and if this caused her to giggle. The woman said she thought so, adding if there was giggling, “it wasn’t in joy but in nervousness”.
Defence counsel said his client’s position is that she never babysat in his home. The woman said she remembered only one time, when the first incident occurred.
Mr Gageby suggested to the woman that “nothing improper occurred, nor did anything improper occur when you were 14”. She replied: “I happen to be the person who was there. I am happy with my own opinion that I was inappropriately touched.”
The first complainant was also cross-examined on Wednesday.
Mr Gageby told this woman that his client’s case is that “yes he did molest you but only in the office”. He asked her if she disagreed and the woman replied: “I do”.
In relation to the first complainant, the man has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of indecent assault on dates between 1975 and 1977. The guilty pleas he entered are in relation to her.
In her direct evidence on Tuesday, the woman outlined a number of incidents in which the man allegedly abused her, including in her bedroom at night, in the car on the way to training when her sister was sitting in the back seat, in his office, around the sports complex and in his home when she was babysitting his children.
Mr Gageby said his client’s case is that the woman did not babysit for him and that his client was not a frequent visitor at her home. The woman said she disagreed.
Counsel put it to the woman that his client “fully accepts that in his office he molested you over a five-month period, you say it was longer and elsewhere?”. The woman replied: “It was”.
The woman said she could not definitively say how long the abuse went on for, adding “I know it went on for months and months”.
Under re-examination, the woman said her memory of how long the alleged abuse went on “would be from 13 to 14” but she couldn’t “quantify it exactly”.
The jury also heard from two of the woman’s school friends, who said she told them what was happening with the man.
One of these witnesses said “we were beyond innocent, just had no knowledge” when asked about the sex education they received.
This witness said the woman told her about kissing the man and performing oral sex on him. She said they wondered about whether the first complainant could get pregnant as the man had ejaculated in her mouth.
She said they had “dozens” of conversations over several months. She said she didn’t tell anyone else due to concern about getting the complainant into trouble.
This witness agreed with Mr Gageby that the first complainant referred to the man’s office in their conversations.
Another witness, who was also the first complainant’s school friend, said her friend spoke “quite fondly” of the man then “all of a sudden” told them something had happened.
She described the first complainant telling them that the man “showed her how to kiss him and got her to handle his penis” and in the following weeks, “it emerged he was putting his penis into her mouth”.
This witness said it never occurred to her to speak to an adult or a teacher. Under cross-examination, this witness agreed that she understood this was taking place in the man’s office.
Mr Gageby put to her that it appears that “in her childishness” the first complainant “was consenting”. This witness said her friend “thought he really liked her and initially consented to it”, but she didn’t think her friend really understood.
She noted she couldn’t say what her friend understood, noting that this was “something that happened she didn’t object to initially”.
In relation to the third complainant, the man has denied 41 counts of indecently assaulting her and one count of attempted rape on dates between 1971 and 1975.
He has pleaded not guilty to one count of indecently assaulting the fourth complainant on a date between 1980 and 1981.
The trial continues.
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