Catholic Ireland Shame: Survivor Testifies Against Coach
A 79-year-old man is standing trial in Dublin's Central Criminal Court, facing 74 counts of sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s. A complainant has told the jury she was left in a state of panic and shame by the alleged abuse, highlighting the oppressive culture of the time that silenced victims and forced them to carry the guilt of their abusers.
What are the charges in the Central Criminal Court trial?
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with 74 counts of sexually abusing four girls. The alleged offences occurred between 1971 and 1981, when the complainants were between 10 and 15 years old. He has pleaded not guilty to 73 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape. However, he pleaded guilty before the jury to five counts of indecently assaulting one of the complainants between May and September 1976.
How did the survivor describe the alleged abuse?
There is a heavy weight to the past, and sometimes it takes decades to bring it into the light. The second complainant gave her evidence by videolink from another country. She told prosecuting counsel James Dwyer about an incident while babysitting, when the man put his hands under the bedsheets and touched her torso and breasts. She was 10 or 11 years old at the time.
She described a second incident at a sports facility when she was 13 or 14. The man touched her under her clothes, his hand on her breasts, torso and hip. The shame of that moment stayed with her, deeply rooted in the moral framework she was raised in.