Cork woman abused by stepmother hopes others can find courage to speak out

Cora Desmond from Youghal, Co Cork pictured at Cork circuit court. Picture: Daragh McSweeney/Cork Courts Limited

A young woman in Co Cork who suffered years of abuse at the hands of her stepmother has spoken out about her ordeal. 

Cora Desmond was systematically beaten and tortured by her father's partner who mocked her as a kind of Cinderella. 

Yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Bridget Kenneally, of 19 The Green, Duncoran, Youghal, Co Cork, was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of assault causing harm to Cora Desmond, who was then 10, in October 2009 at 7 Kenny’s Lane, Youghal.

The court heard how Ms Desmond was abused by her mother for 11 years and was beaten regularly with implements that included a poker, spatula, wooden spoon, a set of hinges, and a length of Hoover pipe.

Speaking to the Opinion Line with PJ Coogan on 96fm this morning, Ms Desmond said she was "quite shocked" that her step-mother was sentenced as she “never thought she [Bridget Kenneally] would go away and do time”. 

Ms Desmond said she expected the custodial sentence to be a slap on the wrist” as the complaints related to events so long ago and she was unaware of the medical evidence available when she first made the complaint. 

She described the abuse beginning when she was six years old and said it became worse and worse as she got older.  “It just started with the odd kind of slap and punch here and there and it just grew worse and worse as the days went on.”

Ms Desmond said that she was singled out because she was the smallest of the children living in the home. "My sister got it, it wasn't just me but I was the easiest target," she said. 

Intimidated by her step-mother not to speak out, Ms Desmond has described living in fear as a young child at she would be separated from her father and biological sister. “It was scary from what I can remember it was just the constant threats of: ‘Don’t tell anyone because no one will believe you and you will go into foster care and you will never see your sister or you Dad," she said. 

As she was so young when the abuse began, Ms Desmond said she thought of it as normal until she spoke with a primary school friend. She was left confused that other parents didn't beat their children. 

“I couldn’t understand it. I was told I deserved it, I told it was my own fault and that I got what I was meant to get.

Eventually, when she was 16, Ms Desmond spoke to her biological mother about the ordeal. “I just broke down one night and told her:’I can’t do this anymore’,” she said. 

With her mother's help, Ms Desmond reported the abuse to the Gardaí who then informed her father a week later. In that time, Ms Desmond feared for her life living with her step-mother. 

"Does she know that I’m telling on her?" Ms Desmond asked herself. "I didn’t know what she was capable of. Could she actually kill me? Could she actually do so much damage that I would end up dead? What else could she do?” 

Ms Desmond said the process leading up to yesterday's sentence was a long time coming but hopes to help other people to speak out. 

“If I help one person to escape the torture and to be free, it’s something. It’s a hard thing to do to speak up but it’s what I’m hoping to achieve by talking,” she said. 

Praising the Gardaí in Youghal for their help, Ms Desmond said she hopes to move on with her life and is grateful for the support of her friends and family. 

”It’s been tough but I’ve got an amazing family and group of friends around me and counsellors and An Garda Siochána in town have all been amazing.” 

She does not, however, accept her step-mother's apology for the abuse she suffered at her hands over 11 years in their childhood home. 

"I know her and I know her and her ways from living with her for 11 years. This is her just trying to please the court. And say: ‘Oh well I’m saying sorry, I’m remorseful’," she said.

“It’s easy to just say I accept your apology, move on. But at the end of the day that’s her thinking I’ve forgiven her but I need her to know that I will never forgive her for what she’s done," she said.