A Dublin man denied yesterday he raped and sexually assaulted his younger sister over a number of years. He told the jury at the Central Criminal Court he was beaten by gardai when interviewed and made to lie in his statement to them.
"I never went into any bedroom, I never got under any blankets and I never had sex with any of my sisters," he said. He also claimed the three gardai who interviewed him were "throwing their versions of the story in at all angles".
Asked by defence counsel, Mr Barry White SC, whether the statement he made to gardai on July 14th, 1995, had been read back to him, he replied: "No, I was never asked to sign any document and what is in it is a pack of lies. I didn't say what was in it."
The 36-year-old accused, from south Co Dublin, who has four children aged from six months to eight years, has pleaded not guilty to a total of 13 charges of rape and sexual assault of his sister. The charges include seven of indecent assault on dates unknown between March 1980 and March 1985, and six of rape on dates unknown between April 1981 and May 1988.
He said things started going wrong after his sister caused rows with his parents and sought barring orders against her husband when they were suffering matrimonial problems to stop him visiting her children. He said she also sought a barring order against their mother.
The gardai laughed at him and did not believe him when he told them that the first time he ever had sex was with his wife when he was a 19-year-old. One garda shouted at him: "I know you're lying and you better tell the truth," and then struck him on the left thigh with his fist six or several times.
He denied he had ever read Playboy or "dirty" magazines before or that he had abused his sister while he was looking at such magazines.
He said he was a very poor reader and would never use the words "penis", "intercourse" and "explored" and that gardai had put these words in his statement. He said he had initialled the paper even though he did not know what it was.
He denied he tripped his sister to the floor of the shed while he practised karate, and that he then abused her. He also denied their mother entered the shed at the time and then beat his sister with a sweeping brush.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Ken Mills SC (with Mr Des Zaiden), put it to the accused that he was asked if he had any complaints when leaving the station and he had replied "No" at the time. He said he could not recall that happening.
Their mother denied she had ever witnessed the shed incident or beat her daughter and said she had never complained of any improper conduct by her brother. She said her bedroom door was always open and she could hear every sound in the house, and the reason her daughter was angry was that she had reported her to the Social Services for mistreating her two children.
Her husband's evidence supported everything she told the court. He denied he was an alcoholic who was never there for the children as the alleged victim claimed in her evidence.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Kearns.