Mayo man cleared of raping younger sister

Jury find Mayo man not guilty of rape, but guilty of seven counts of indecent assault against two sisters

A MAYO man has been cleared of raping his younger sister but was found guilty of seven charges of indecently assaulting two of his sisters over 30 years ago.
The 57-year-old Mayo man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with four counts of rape against his now 47-year-old sister on different occasions between 1979 and 1984. He was also charged with 30 counts of indecent assault against the same woman, as well as 31 separate counts of indecent assault on another sister, who is now 56 years old, all between 1976 and 1984.
The man pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Evidence was heard in the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar. During the trial, Mr Justice Tony Hunt informed the jury that following legal argument, he was withdrawing one of the four counts of rape, which was alleged to have occurred on July 12, 1982.
Four counts of indecent assault against the oldest sister, alleged to have occurred sometime between January 1, 1978, and December 31, 1978, and 15 counts of indecent assault alleged to have occurred between January 1, 1980, and October 28, 1983, were also withdrawn.

Recollections questioned
The case lasted for six days in Castlebar Courthouse. In her evidence, the younger victim claimed her brother first raped her when she was ten years old. She said her parents had been in Knock to see Pope John Paul II when he beckoned her to his room and raped her.
The court also heard from a neighbour, who told the court that he had brought some of the family to Knock in his car. He said he was ‘pretty certain but not 100 percent’ that the accused man was with them.
The younger sister also claimed she was also raped twice in her brother’s car and a fourth time in his bedroom. In giving evidence to the court, another brother claimed he walked into the bedroom in question and recalled the incident in a flashback after he had been made aware of the alleged abuse.
The court also heard that on July 12, 1982, the accused brought the youngest sister to see ET in the cinema for a birthday, along with two of her friends. The sister claimed that after he dropped her friends home, he drove down a bog road before raping her.
However, the court heard that ET was not released in Ireland until December 1982, and when interviewed by gardaí, the two friends did not recall going to the cinema. Following legal argument, Judge Hunt told the court that he was not satisfied it would be safe to convict on the evidence and that he was withdrawing this count of rape.
During her testimony, the woman referred to her brother as ‘him’ or ‘he’ and did not refer to him by name.
The woman also claimed that her brother constantly indecently assaulted her if she was alone in her bed at night and also in the sheds around the house. She also claimed she became pregnant after one of the rapes. She said she miscarried after five months, before anyone became aware of the pregnancy.
The court heard the alleged abuse started when the family of seven children moved to a council house around 1976. The two sisters slept together in one bed in one room.
Despite sleeping in the same bed, each of the sisters said they were unaware the other had been abused until 1999.
The older sister claimed she was indecently assaulted by her brother when they moved into the new house until she moved out in 1983, when she married. She said the accused brother had made her life hell growing up, and that he would come into her room at night and sexually assault her.
The older sister also told the trial that in order to get attention from the family, she drank a bottle of sherry in December 1982, which resulted in her ending up in hospital. She claimed that if it were not for her boyfriend, who is now her husband, she would have ended up in a psychiatric unit.
During cross-examination by SC for the accused Michael Bowman, the younger sister was asked about her recollection of the incident. Counsel for the accused presented her with evidence that she had told a counsellor that her brother had raped her sister after ‘plying’ her with poitín and tablets, and that her sister had been taken to St Mary’s Hospital in a straight jacket.
When Mr Bowman put it to her that her statement to her counsellor had not been true, she replied, ‘It was true’, before later telling the court that, ‘In my head, it happened’.

‘A hard and difficult case’
Before beginning their deliberation, Judge Hunt told the jury members that he was giving them a warning in relation to the younger sister’s evidence, saying it would be dangerous to convict the accused without independent collaborative evidence.
He added that he was not telling them not to convict the accused man, but to proceed very carefully.
The jury deliberated for five hours and nine minutes before finding the accused man not guilty of all charges of rape and not guilty of 35 counts of indecent assault. However, they found him guilty of seven counts of indecent assault, one in relation to the younger sister, and six in relation to the older.
Judge Hunt thanked the jury for the diligence they had shown in what he described as ‘a hard and difficult case’.
The guilty man was remanded on bail to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin for sentencing on Monday, October 3.