The brother of a man accused of murdering his former girlfriend and stabbing her mother has told his trial that his brother was mentally and sexually abused by their father from a young age and had spent six weeks in a psychiatric unit shortly before the stabbing.
Mr Declan Burke (29) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jennifer Wilkinson (24) at Boden Park, Ballyboden, Dublin, in December 2000. He has also denied causing serious harm to her mother, Ms Mary Wilkinson, by stabbing her.
Mr Graham Burke told the trial before Mr Justice White at the Central Criminal Court he "first realised" what was going on when he was "about four or five".
His mother had panic attacks, epilepsy and a drink problem. She did not take their side "because she never realised what was going on". The sexual abuse started when he was nine or 10 and lasted 4½ to five years. It happened to Declan and his sister also and happened "too frequently".
In 1995, his father, Noel Burke, was jailed for sexual abuse. After the court case, he could not handle being in Dublin and went abroad until May 2000.
Back in Dublin, Declan "went mad in the apartment one night and broke everything". Arising out of that incident, Declan spent six weeks in the psychiatric unit in St James's Hospital. Graham said his brother was "very distressed" when he visited him there.