Woman alleges sports coach attempted to rape her during summer camp in 1970s

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. File picture

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A woman has told a Central Criminal Court jury that a sports coach attempted to rape her during a summer camp over 50 years ago.

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 cannot be named for legal reasons.

The jury has 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 Thursday, the third complainant told James Dwyer, prosecuting, that she was around eight or nine when she first encountered the man.

She said he was one of her coaches, and there was nothing unusual about their interactions at the start, but he “started paying more attention to me” and “taking an interest in me”.

The man has denied 41 counts of indecently assaulting this woman and one count of attempted rape on dates between 1971 and 1975.

At this time, she said her feelings about the man were “very positive”. The woman told the court her parents were separated and “it’s very easy to turn around and say now I was lacking a father figure and did not have a male role model”.

She said she walked home after training and would often meet the man en route, who started to offer her lifts.

She said the first incident occurred while she was in the car alone with him. She said the man pulled over, then “leaned over and kissed me”.

She said the man “put his tongue in my mouth”, and she didn’t know how to react.

“I remember him asking whether I had ever been kissed,” the woman said. She said the man told her he could show me how to do it.

She said there were similar incidents, which could occur once or twice a month, then nothing for a month. She said the alleged abuse occurred in the man’s car and on some occasions, in the sports complex.

The woman described other incidents of alleged abuse by the man, including inappropriate touching, digital penetration, forced masturbation, and oral sex.

When asked by Mr Dwyer about her knowledge of the facts of life, the woman replied: “zero”. She said she didn’t understand what was happening, that it was “unknown” and felt “weird”.

She described attending a summer camp in 1975 when she was 12, during which the man asked her to come with him. She said he took her to a separate room where he attempted to rape her.

She said she told him it hurt, and he then forced her to masturbate him. She said she did not return to the camp after this incident.

This woman is expected to continue her evidence on Friday.

It was 'something I didn't question'

Earlier, a younger sister of the first two complainants gave evidence that she was involved in the same sport as her older siblings, though more casually when she was aged between six and 11 years old.

She told Jane Horgan Jones, defending, that the man visited the family’s home, though she couldn’t estimate how many times he was there.

She said she remembered her involvement in the sport stopped when she was around 11. She said it was “something I didn’t question as we didn’t in our family, but I never understood it”.

She said her “feeling” was that her involvement stopped at the end of a training term and “never started again”.

Under cross-examination, she agreed with Patrick Gageby, defending, that her mother was friendly with the defendant’s wife.

Mr Gageby suggested to her that his client “didn’t have any particular business in your house”. 

She replied: “He didn’t come on business”.

A man who worked at a sports complex in the 1970s told jurors that the defendant worked there as a coach. This witness said he knew the first two complainants and that the defendant had a role in their training.

In other evidence, the jury were taken through a plan of a sports facility and were told of several changes to its layout and management since the 1970s.

The man has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of indecent assault in relation to the first complainant on dates between 1975 and 1977. The guilty pleas he entered are in relation to her.

In relation to the second complainant, the man has denied two counts of indecently assaulting this woman on dates between 1975 and 1977.

He has pleaded not guilty to one count of indecently assaulting the fourth complainant on a date between 1980 and 1981.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Mícheál O'Higgins and the jury.

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