When arrested by gardai, a Co Laois man totally denied his daughter's allegations that he sexually abused her, a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard. He told gardai his daughter was "bizarre", that there was "something wrong" and "strange" with her, and that she was peeved at him for giving out to her in front of her friends.
A garda agreed with defence counsel Mr Giollaiosa O Lideadha that the accused denied all the allegations put to him and gave documents he took from his daughter's room to gardai.
The 49-year-old man pleaded not guilty to a total of 34 charges of indecent and sexual assault, rape and oral rape on dates from 1986 to 1997. The charges comprise 17 alleged indecent and sexual assaults, 12 rapes and five oral rapes. It was the second day of the trial.
The jury heard the accused told gardai he would prove his innocence "to the bitter end" and that his family were fighting for him. His solicitor agreed with him he had made the right decision to leave the family home after she made her allegations against him.
The jury also heard a Garda sergeant read a letter the accused sent to his daughter, after he left the family home, in which he claimed she had destroyed their good name and that some people turned away in the street and wouldn't talk to him anymore.
The sergeant told prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan, the accused revealed in the letter he had found "dirty notes" that she and boys in her school class wrote to each other. He told his daughter in the letter: "I'm sorry you are in a corner you cannot get out of" and claimed she had been put there by her friends. He added she must have felt "silly" when the medical examination proved she was still a virgin.
He said she would have to get a job after she did the Leaving Certificate because there would be no money for higher education but said he was open to talk to her "to make things right" and that he still loved her despite the hurt she caused him.
The accused denied during one of several Garda interviews that his daughter was ever in his bed or that he abused her on Sunday nights after both of them watched the RTE soap opera, Glenroe.
A doctor told prosecuting counsel Mr Edward Comyn SC (with Mr Grehan), he found a tear or scar at the lower end of the entrance to the now 16-year-old girl's vagina but her hymen was intact. The penis could enter this part of the vagina without ripping the hymen. The doctor told defence counsel Mr John O'Kelly SC (with Mr O Lideadha), the scar was consistent with attempted penile penetration. The hymen would not survive forced penile penetration. He wasn't asked by the gardai to change his statement and didn't do so.
The hearing continues before Mr Justice Smith and a jury of 10 men and two women.