Gardaí are preparing to excavate the garden of a house in south Dublin where a woman has alleged two children she gave birth to were murdered and buried.
The woman, who is now middle aged, came forward to gardaí last year and told them she had been the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of men she knew as a child. She alleged she was raped and abused over a period of about 10 years.
In the 1970s, when aged 12, she said she first gave birth to a baby conceived during the abuse. She told gardaí that in order to cover up the abuse, the child was murdered and buried in the back garden of the house.
She also claims she fell pregnant again two years later, when aged 14, and that the second child was also killed and buried in the same garden.
It is understood at least one of two men she has implicated in the sexual abuse has since died, though one elderly person she has implicated is still alive and living in Ireland.
Accurate
Gardaí have continued to work on the case since last year and having checked out aspects of the woman’s claims in an effort to corroborate the allegations, they are satisfied those details are accurate.
They are hopeful an excavation of the garden may uncover traces of the babies’ remains if they were buried there despite the passage of some 40 years.
The excavation has been planned for a number of months and could begin as soon as next week.
Garda sources say the operation is to take some time because it must be carried out slowly and carefully.
The same sources say very little evidence of a new born baby’s remains would still be recoverable if indeed the children were buried in the garden.
