A man told a Central Criminal Court jury yesterday that he had not sexually abused his eight-year-old niece when she stayed in his Dublin flat in summer 1995. The 30-year-old man, from Northern Ireland, has pleaded not guilty to the rape and sexual assault of the girl on unknown dates between June 17th, and July 8th, 1995, when she holidayed with him.
Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, prosecuting, put the girl's claim that they had slept in the same bed to the accused. He said she had asked one night if she could get into his bed and he saw nothing wrong with that. She was only a child.
Dr Martin Corbally, of Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, in Crumlin, Dublin, said he examined the girl in January 1996, and his findings supported the contention that she had been penetrated vaginally. However he agreed under cross-examination that it was very difficult to date any alleged penetration.
The case continues