Woman who alleges sex abuse by family members finishes 3 months of questioning in court
Isabel Hayes
A woman who alleges she was sexually abused by seven of her family members has finished giving evidence after three and a half months in court.
On Friday Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said she wanted to thank the woman “for three and a half months of answering questions”.
The woman started giving evidence via video link in October and gave her evidence to the prosecution counsel before being cross-examined by seven defence counsel representing each of the accused men.
Hugh Hartnett SC was the last defence barrister to cross-examine the woman, and he finished this morning.
Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, then said she was “happy” to tell the woman that the prosecution would not be re-examining her on her evidence.
The jury was told that the trial, which started four and a half months ago, is now entering a new phase, with a further four weeks or so of evidence expected to take place before it reaches closing stages.
Seven men, aged between 32 and 55, are on trial in relation to a combined total of 103 charges against them – of which 98 counts pertain to the main complainant. They are her four younger brothers and three uncles.
They are accused of sexually abusing her at various stages over a 17 year period between 1996 and 2013, and deny any wrongdoing. One of the men is further accused of sexually abusing two of his younger sisters, also sisters of the main complainant.
None of the parties involved can be named for legal reasons.
The woman was giving evidence via video-link and through two interpreters – an Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter and a deaf relay – as well as an intermediary who is a linguistics expert. There were also two interpreter monitoring teams present in court to ensure the woman is being interpreted correctly.
Charts and symbols were used to assist the woman to communicate, with the court hearing she has challenges communicating timelines in terms of calendars and sequence.
The trial continues.
