Hatred between two families over land which culminated in the son of one family sexually assaulting the daughter of the other, was likened by a judge at Galway Circuit Court yesterday to that of the feuding families in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Adjourning sentence until October, Judge Carroll Moran said this was the worst land dispute case he had come across. The man (22) had been a victim of his own family and if he had not been brought up in such a poisonous atmosphere by his parents, he would not have been convicted. The man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of his victim, was convicted of sexually assaulting the girl, who was 10 at the time. He was also convicted of physically assaulting her by throwing her into a well and holding her head underwater.
The girl, who is now 12, told the court she was walking to her friend's house at 4 p.m. on January 27th, 1997, when the man grabbed her from behind, put his hand over her mouth and sexually assaulted her. He knocked her to the ground and picked up a small stone and hit her with it before sexually assaulting her again. He then carried her to a nearby well where he dumped her. He held her head under the water before letting her go.
She stumbled to her friend's house and fell in the driveway.
Just before the assault she saw the man's parents standing just a few yards away outside their own house. They were sniggering at her, she said. She could sense they were still there as the assault was taking place. The girl denied she was making the story up because her father was convicted four days earlier of assaulting the mother and sister of the convicted man.
Her 11-year-old friend said she saw the girl falling in her driveway and brought her into the house. Her hair and clothes were wet. The girl's father said the man's family were annoyed he bought land near them and their lives had been made a misery. His home was now up for sale.
The man denied the charges and said there was a conspiracy to get him. He said he did not know the child to see even though she lived just up the road from him and passed his home every day. He admitted that his family had wanted to buy the land the child's family had bought but denied he had assaulted her because he had heard his parents talk about her parents.
The child's father thanked the jury for believing his daughter and he asked any sentence to reflect the gravity of the offences. However, he and his family were willing to extend the hand of friendship if it would help them all live together in peace. The convicted man's father stormed out of the courtroom at this, while his brother threatened the victim's father.
Judge Moran said he was grateful to the victim's father but he was appalled at the attitude of the other family and the air of defiance of the convicted man's father.
He said the girl had been subjected to a dreadful experience and a four-year sentence would be fitting. However, thanks to the magnanimous gesture of the victim's father and the fact that the man had no previous convictions, he would adjourn his decision until October 5th.