Trial of Kilkenny man hears from third complainant

A man has told the trial of a Kilkenny man accused of over 120 counts of historical abuse that he was present in a car while the accused sexually assaulted his younger brother. 

The Kilkenny man, who can't be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 121 counts of historic sex abuse. These counts include anal and oral rape as well as sexual assault against eight male complainants, who were then aged between 10 and 11 years of age. The offending occurred between 1995 and 2007 at various locations.

The 59-year-old denies any wrongdoing.

The third complainant to give evidence told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, on Friday, that the accused man lived in the same area as him when he was younger.

 The 38-year-old said he was 11 or 12 when the abuse started. This complainant said the accused would touch his penis, both under and over his clothes. He also outlined incidents of masturbation, inappropriate touching and oral sex. He said the man raped him anally on one occasion.

He said the man threatened him to “keep my mouth shut” or his family would be killed.  

The complainant described the abuse occurring at multiple locations, including in the man's car.  He said the man would “touch me up” in the car and force him to touch the man inappropriately.

He said that his younger brother was sometimes in the man's car at the same time. The witness said the man “was touching me up and my brother”.

The complainant said the man would let him drive the car while he touched his brother. When asked by Mr McGinn if he ever spoke to his brother about it, the witness replied, “We left it buried”.

He said he told his mother about the alleged abuse, and she contacted gardai. He initially spoke to gardai when he was 14 or 15, but nothing happened.

He said the abuse stopped when he was around 15 but told Mr McGinn he couldn't remember the final incident. “I suffered so much through the abuse, I made sure I forgot it,” he said

During cross-examination, Roisin Lacey SC, defending, said her client denies the allegations, to which the complainant replied, “That's lies.”

She said her instructions are that the boy used to come to the door of the man's house for cigarettes, but was never in her client's house. “That’s lies. I was looking for cigarettes, but I was in the house,” the  complainant said.

He agreed he was interviewed by social workers and gardai in 2000 about these allegations.

When Ms Lacey put it to him that her client denied threatening the boy, the witness insisted the man had done this.

 She asked the complainant why he didn't say the man had threatened him during the interviews in 2000. He maintained he was threatened by the man but accepted this detail wasn't in the records of these interviews.

The witness told defence counsel that he couldn't recall how he first met the man but insisted that he did go inside his house.  He said he didn't remember seeing the man's wife or children when he went into the house.

He accepted Ms Lacey's contention that his memory is “a bit vague” about some details and dates of the alleged abuse but insisted he is “100%” clear about the locations.

The complainant clarified during cross-examination that his evidence is that the accused “pressed up” against his buttocks numerous times but only raped him on one occasion.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and the jury.