Prosecution closes evidence in trial of man accused of raping nine-year-old girl in Co Kilkenny

by Eoghan Dalton

The prosecution has closed its case in the trial of a man accused of raping a young girl multiple times in Co Kilkenny.

A 20-year-old man has denied the ten separate charges of rape and sexual assault in 2018.

The girl was aged 9 at the time the allegations are said to have occurred.

The trial has heard from her as well as family members and a medical doctor in recent days at the Central Criminal Court.

Closing the State’s case today, senior counsel Roisin Lacey told the jury it had been a short trial and acknowledged they had not spent much time in the courtroom due to legal argument between the opposing sides. Ms Lacy focused on the reliability of the young girl, following claims by the defence during cross-examination that she had “made up” the claims in a bid for attention from her mother. The prosecution rejected this, pointing to medical inspections conducted in the wake of the girl disclosing the allegations and her now potentially “suppressing memories” of what happened. Ms Lacey said the girl was previously clear about her claims when she first came forward, four years ago, in a Garda interview conducted which broadcast to the court. However, partly due to the passage of time, she had become “less effusive” giving fewer details when addressing the court via video link this week. Ms Lacey said this could be attributed to adolescents becoming increasingly reluctant as they age, so that it “becomes like pulling teeth”, particularly as the girl was being questioned about sexual matters in a courtroom. She added that while the girl told defence barrister Colman Cody several times she did not know what happened and seemed unsure at points, she also “did not retract” any of her previous claims. “Is she a child who simply tries not to remember the exact details,” she asked, adding that the girl may have “pushed them to the back of her head” in more recent years. The defence also pointed to the girl’s false recollections of a car collision in Co Waterford while with her mother as a way of showing she was unreliable. Ms Lacey said this was a “red-herring” tactic and focused on the girl’s past suffering of sexual abuse at the hands of an older relative – an entirely different man.The court heard the girl has now suppressed this memory and does not recall any of the abuse, but accepts it did happen. Ms Lacey said the defence had attempted to portray the girl as a “fantasist” but that this did not apply to earlier confirmed sexual abuse she had suffered. Evidence provided by a doctor specialising in sexual abuse showed there were no lacerations on the girl’s private parts. The doctor added that this “does not preclude the possibility of anal penetration”.

The court previously heard that the accused and the girl were visiting an older person in the community who knew both their families “for the purposes of saying the rosary” and to have their dinner, which was one of the two locations in Co Kilkenny where the acts are alleged to have occurred. The girl also claims that the accused had rubbed himself against her. The allegations came to light after the girl told her mother in November 2018. The girl’s mother then contacted Tusla the Child and Family Agency and social workers became involved.A Garda investigation was launched and the girl’s mother gave Gardaí permission for her daughter to be spoken to by specialist Garda interviewers.

The girl had described going into the bathroom to clean herself and finding “wet, sticky and white stuff on her”.Six counts of rape are alleged to have taken place outside a household in a rural area.The accused also denied two other charges of sexually assaulting the girl in the sitting room of a house and at another residence.Two further charges relate to an allegation that he invited the girl to touch his penis with her hand in the bedroom of a home.The offences took place across a range of dates unknown in June, July and August in 2018. Neither party can be named for legal reasons.A jury of seven men and seven women is expected to begin deliberations tomorrow after the defence closes its case.