The abuse inflicted on four children by their father was equivalent to years in a Nazi concentration camp, the High Court was told yesterday. Psychiatrist Dr Ivor Browne said Joseph McColgan had inflicted "a reign of terror" on his four children at their home in Co Sligo.
Ms Sophia McColgan still felt as if a monster was inside her ready to explode, Dr Browne said. He was giving evidence on the eighth day of the action by Ms McColgan (27) against the North Western Health Board and Dr Desmond Moran, Stephen Street, Sligo.
Ms McColgan, who now lives in Castlebar, Co Mayo, and who formerly resided at Ballinacarrow, Ballymote, Co Sligo, was physically and sexually assaulted by her father over a prolonged period from the late 1970s.
In court yesterday, Dr Browne told Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Ms McColgan, that when he met her she gave him a history of physical and sexual abuse by her father. She was first sexually abused around the time of her First Communion. He agreed Ms McColgan suffers and had suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder.
Ms McColgan had made achievements but only with enormous effort. She felt ready to explode, as if a monster was inside her, and she believed that to let that monster escape would cause her to fall to pieces.
Dr Browne also said considerable therapy was needed if Ms McColgan was to live a fuller and more satisfying life. She was still suffering sudden flashes in her mind during the day and nightmares at night. When she had sex with her partner, she felt as if her father was there.
Since the court case began, he said he had seen a change in Ms McColgan. But even with help, she might never be able to be free of her past.
Mr John Rogers SC, for the North Western Health Board, questioned Dr Browne's comparison of the McColgan home with a Nazi concentration camp.
Dr Browne said that, in terms of torture and the extreme pain suffered by people in those camps, it was comparable. The four McColgan children were under a sentence of death and were terrified of being killed by their father.
Cross-examined by Mr Patrick Hanratty, for Dr Moran, Dr Browne said Ms McColgan's memory of what she had endured would have been a lot less clear in 1984 than it was now because she would have obliterated much of what had happened to her. She has only now recovered parts of her memory, he said.
Dr Browne said the quality of judgments made by Ms McColgan as she got older was not sound.
Mr Paul Gilligan, a clinical psychologist and director of services with the ISPCC, said he had read many of the documents on the McColgans which had been produced by the North Western Health Board and by Dr Moran.
He said he had also examined photographs of Ms McColgan taken in 1979 after she was admitted to hospital. It was clear she had experienced serious injury to her nose and around her left eye. He said he noted that Dr Doreen Dunleavy had at that time described Ms McColgan as very frightened and that a casualty nurse had said the child was "extremely frightened".
Mr Gilligan said he understood Ms McColgan's mother, in the company of her grandparents, had approached the social services and indicated she wished her children to be taken into care for their safety. Replying to Mr James Nugent SC, for Ms McColgan, Mr Gilligan said he believed there was sufficient evidence in 1979 for the board to seek a child protection order in relation to her.
The witness said it was very significant that Mrs McColgan had asked that her children be taken into care. The action of the board in relation to that request was completely inadequate, he said. Mr Rogers, who had objected when Mr Nugent asked the witness for his view on the board's actions in 1979, also objected to the expertise of the witness. He said Mr Gilligan was not a practising clinical psychologist in 1979.
Mr Rogers also said the handling of child abuse cases was different in 1979.
Mr Justice Johnson allowed the questions and said he would give Mr Gilligan's evidence the weight it deserved.
Mr Gilligan said it would have been a basic requirement in 1979 to have met the McColgan children after the serious allegation made by their mother. It would also have been of benefit to contact teachers and other professionals involved with the children and to have checked with the gardai about whether there had been any previous reports on the children.
The hearing resumes today.