A woman told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that she had been sexually abused by a lifeguard in a swimming pool a decade ago.
She said the 51-year-old man put his hand on her genital area most Friday nights over a two-year period when she and other young children played in their local swimming pool in Dublin.
She said she was aged 10 to 11 at the time and the abuse occurred when the accused had other children "swinging from him" and asking him for coaching. The accused denies seven counts of indecent assault allegedly committed between 1990 and 1991.
The woman (now 21) told prosecution counsel Ms Mary-Ellen Ring BL that the man would give her money and tell her not to talk to anyone about the sexual assaults. She said he had touched her vagina and pressed his hands against it from outside her swimming costume.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mr Barry White SC, she admitted she was unsure of the dates on which the abuse occurred.
"I know it happened, that's why I'm here. I don't know the dates because it happened a long time ago," she said.
She agreed the accused had been involved in a serious accident but did not know if it had happened in early 1992, as the accused claimed, or that he was missing from the pool for a year while recuperating.
The woman said the man had often whispered to her outside the swimming pool that she was "special" and not to tell anyone. She told Mr White she could not remember telling gardai the accused had said these words to her in the swimming pool.
She said he would give her £1 while telling her not to tell anyone. He would give 50p pieces to other children to avoid suspicion.
She denied the accused had given the children the money because they asked him for spare change to buy food. She agreed it was her case that she was sexually assaulted "within earshot" of many other people and denied fabricating the allegations.
The trial continues.