Garda’s daughter tells trial she grew up expecting to be hit over uneaten meals
Eimear Dodd
A daughter of a garda charged with raping his wife and child cruelty has told his Central Criminal Court trial that she grew up knowing she would be hit or given out to if she didn’t eat her dinner as a young child.
The 48-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to one count of child cruelty to his now 17-year-old daughter on dates between 2015 and 2024.
He has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping his wife on dates in 2009 and 2021.
He further pleaded not guilty to two counts of child cruelty to his now 24-year-old daughter on unknown dates between 2007 and 2020. He also denies a charge of assault causing harm to his daughter on an unknown date between late 2021 and early 2022, after she had turned 18.
All parties in the case have a statutory right to anonymity.
The alleged offending took place at two locations in the north-west of the country where the family was living at the relevant times.
Daughter's garda interview
On Friday, jurors were shown a DVD of the then 15-year-old girl’s interview with gardaí, recorded in the winter of 2024.
The girl described an incident when she was around seven and her older brother didn’t want to eat his dinner.
Her father put a stick from a tree on the table and told her and her brother to finish their food by a certain time or they’d be in trouble. She said she couldn’t remember if she was hit, but she thought her brother “most likely” was.
She said there were similar incidents involving a stick, a wooden spoon or a cooking utensil when she was between six and 10. She said: “We grew up knowing if we didn’t eat our dinner, we were going to get hit” or given out to.
She said when she was around nine, she was closing a door, and a younger sister’s hand got caught accidentally. Her father came in, put her hand in the door, telling her, “You don’t like how that feels," before walking away.
She said her hand hurt and she felt upset after. She said she told her father she didn’t do it on purpose, but he didn’t listen to her. He didn’t speak to her for several days afterwards, she said.
The girl said one time when she didn’t want to do the hoovering, her father was “giving out”, then threw a remote at her, hitting her on the shoulder. She said she felt scared afterwards.
She said her mother was out shopping at the time, and after that she tried to go with her in case it happened again.
Around September 2023, she didn’t want to brush her hair before school. Her father brushed her hair, then hit her on the head with the brush. She said she was crying and upset.
She said after school her father told her something along the lines of: “You know why I had to do it. You were a mess.”
She said she was in the car with her father one time when he started “ranting” about her mother, saying she didn’t care about them or treat him right. She said she felt surprised and confused, noting that he made her “pinky promise” not to tell, as he’d get in trouble, but she told her older sister.
'Dragged' upstairs
She described another incident when she was eight or nine when he dragged her upstairs after she’d had an argument with her mother. She said he put her in her room, and she wasn’t allowed out for several hours, until suppertime.
She said her father expected her and her brother to stay outside all day during the summers when she was aged between six and 10 and would pass them food out of a window if they were hungry. She said she’d have to “beg” to be let inside to go to the bathroom.
The girl said she was “kind of chubby” at 13 or 14, and when she started to lose weight, they started talking more, but all their conversations were about weight and fitness. She said her father started pushing her to lose more weight, and she felt “obligated” so he would be happy.
She said her father would show photos of her weight loss to his family and friends, and while she was glad he was proud, she was uncomfortable about him telling people outside the family.
Her father told her he was “disappointed” she gained weight and would wake up at night worrying about it. She said he told her things would be harder for her in future if she “continued going downhill” and she needed to fix herself up.
She said her father was “iffy” about weight and talked to her about the weight of two of her siblings and an uncle.
The girl also said her father wanted her to get more involved with sports, but she started to get more into reading in 2022. She said he ignored her if she brought a book and told her to stop reading.
She said he often forgot to get her a birthday card and if he bought her a gift, it would be fitness-related, though it is not one of her main interests. “He doesn’t know much about me as a person.”
She said one time in 2021, when he was tickling her, he put his hands around her neck, strangling her. She said she freaked out and scratched him so he stopped.
She said on another occasion in early 2024, she went upstairs with her mother as a younger sister was making loud noises.
She saw her older sister trying to get their father off the younger sister. She said her younger sister later told her that their father had put his arms around her neck.
Journal writing
During cross-examination, she accepted that she went to Jigsaw for therapy in 2023 and 2024 and wrote a journal.
She told John McGowan, defending, that she did not discuss the journal with her mother or granny. She said she spoke to her older sister about “small things” she wrote after her Garda interview, but never saw her sister’s journal.
She agreed that there was an occasion when she and her sister were writing their journals in the granny’s kitchen. She said they didn’t talk about what they were writing.
She said she wasn’t sure of something she wrote in her journal and asked her mother about it. She told McGowan that her mother only looked at one part of the journal, then she took it back. She said she couldn’t remember what she had been unsure of.
The girl also agreed that she had some engagement with Tusla in 2024 after going to Jigsaw, but said she couldn’t remember how it ended.
McGowan read through a note from Jigsaw, which stated that the girl had spoken about her granny telling her about past experiences with her father that she hadn’t known about. She said she didn’t remember her granny talking to her about these things.
She agreed that her father got her a book as a Christmas present last year and that she continues to enjoy reading.
Referring to the incident where she was brought to her room, the girl agreed this may have happened around 5pm and that she was let out by her mother for supper at 8pm or 9pm. She said she only remembered it vaguely and was not sure about the timings.
She said she told her mother about the alleged incident when her father hit her with a hairbrush. She said she usually did her own hair, but her father brushed it that day instead.
McGowan noted that the girl wrote in the journal that her father “slammed” the door repeatedly, but didn’t tell this to gardaí. She agreed she didn’t say that as she must have been nervous and that he did it twice.
He also asked her about the incident in early 2024 involving her younger sister. She said she was listening to music downstairs using earphones, but could hear what was happening upstairs. She said she went upstairs with her mother, and her older sister intervened.
She agreed with counsel that her father was apologetic afterwards and spoke to her younger sister, but not to her.
She said she was told about an incident in which her father allegedly pulled earrings out of the ears of her older sister, but she has no memory of it and would have been a young child at the time.
The girl agreed her father was still living in the family home when she spoke to gardaí, but moved out shortly afterwards. She said she still has contact with her father.
Under re-examination, she confirmed that she wrote every page in the journal and that the things she wrote are true and her own memories.
She told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, during re-examination, that she went to Jigsaw initially due to bad anxiety. She said she would talk about “anything” there including exams, friendships and her parents’ separation.
The trial continues before Judge Sean Gillane and the jury.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Women’s Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800-341 900, email helpline@womensaid.ie) or Men’s Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01-554 3811, email hello@mensaid.ie) for support and information.
Safe Ireland also offers a number of local services and helplines at safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
