The trial continues today at Galway Circuit Court of two Co Galway brothers who face a total of 132 charges involving the sexual abuse of their nephew over a 10-year period.
The brothers, who are now aged 35 and 47 respectively, deny the alleged sexual abuse of their nephew on various dates between 1976 and 1986, at the child's grandparents' home.
The alleged victim gave evidence yesterday that the abuse started when he was 4-1/2-yearsold.
He said he was subjected to the abuse whenever his parents took him to stay with his grandparents.
His uncles also lived in the house and it became so cramped during his visits that he was forced to share a bed with either of his uncles, who slept in different rooms, until he refused to visit the house when he was 15.
Mr Padraig O'Higgins SC, defending the younger uncle, said the alleged victim had been sentenced in England to 4-1/2 years for the robbery and assault of a woman in London in 1991. He also stole £2,600 by fraudulent means from another uncle he had been staying with in England and had claimed social welfare under a false name on another occasion.
He said the witness was a liar and a cheat who had made up the allegations.
Mr O'Higgins put it him that he was looking for compensation from his uncles who had been very good to him and he had made the allegations so that his sentence might be shortened. The court heard the witness had served half of the sentence and was then released on parole.
The witness said he had made the complaints of sexual abuse in 1998, while working in a prison chapel. He had done so because he no longer feared his uncles.