Woman who was sexually assaulted as a child by her uncle for five years awarded €232k

In 2021, Patrick Caffrey was jailed for a total of three years for sexually assaulting four of his nieces, including Grace Odumosu

Grace Odumosu (pictured) told the court that her uncle Patrick Caffrey kissed and touched her starting when she was nine years old and it happened over 100 times. File photo: Moya Nolan

A woman who was sexually assaulted by her uncle over a five-year period when she was a child has been awarded over €232,000 by the High Court.

Grace Odumosu told the court that her uncle Patrick Caffrey kissed and touched her starting when she was nine years old and it happened over 100 times.

Grace Odumosu from Kimmage, Dublin, had sued Caffrey her uncle of Grove Road, Harold’s Cross, Rathmines, Dublin, that between the ages of nine and 13 years old she had been wrongfully and intentionally subjected to sexual abuse.

The abuse occurred at Caffrey’s house in his daughter’s bedroom or the kitchen when he lured the child in on the pretext of assisting him. In 2021, Caffrey was jailed for a total of three years for sexually assaulting four of his nieces, including Grace Odumosu.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court at the time heard Patrick Caffrey, aged 55, engaged in “persistent, nasty and insidious” offending over a 12-year period against his four nieces. He had pleaded guilty to 22 charges of sexual assault on his nieces between December 1991 and December 2003.

In a High Court judgment on Wednesday, Mr Justice Paul Coffey said he found Ms Odumosu to be an impressive witness. He said he was satisfied that Caffrey embarked upon a sustained course of sexual abuse of Grace over a period of five years.

The abuse the judge said occurred repeatedly over five years and he accepted her evidence that the kissing alone occurred on more than 100 occasions and formed part of a continuing pattern of abuse throughout her childhood.

Mr Justice Coffey found as a fact that Ms Odumosu’s injury “resulted not merely from the individual acts of abuse viewed in isolation but from their cumulative effect over a prolonged period”. The judge said the abuse itself caused substantial injury but “the disclosure of that abuse, although necessary and entirely justified, resulted in further trauma and family fragmentation.” 

He added: “Ms Odumosu was therefore required to endure not only the abuse itself but also the profound familial consequences of bringing that abuse into the open.” 

The judge assessed damages for pain and suffering at €175,000 and future pain and suffering at €50,000. The total with special damages and an award in relation to therapy sessions came to €232,360.

The judge said that although Ms Odumosu had demonstrated considerable resilience in her education, employment and family life, resilience should not be mistaken for recovery.

"I am satisfied that the effects of the abuse remain active and will continue into the future,” Mr Justice Coffey said.

In the proceedings before the High Court, it was claimed that Ms Odumosu’s constitutional rights to bodily integrity had been breached and Caffrey, Ms Odumosu’s uncle by marriage, had exploited or abused his dominant position. He had also, it was claimed, concealed his behaviour so he was able to perpetrate the abuse on an ongoing basis.

Ms Odumosu felt she was groomed and the abuse changed her life, turned her life upside down and removed her confidence.

The court heard that judgement had already been obtained in default of defence. In evidence, Ms Odumosu said the abuse started in Caffrey’s daughter’s bedroom when he touched her but her cousin would not have seen.

“It happened so often; it felt like it was always happening, over 100 times over the years,” she said.

She said her first kiss was from Caffrey. “It made me feel gross. That was my first kiss,’ she said.