Sex-abuse convict on the run after fleeing Ireland's longest criminal trial
A man found guilty of abusing his deaf sister has disappeared after skipping bail during verdicts in a record-breaking eight-month trial.
Sex-abuse convict on the run after fleeing Ireland's longest criminal trial
A 35-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting his profoundly deaf sister has vanished after breaking bail conditions during the final phase of a historic court case.
He was one of four male relatives — an uncle and three half-brothers — found guilty last month of 13 separate abuse counts against the woman. The offending stretched from 2003 to 2014, beginning when she was 15, and occurred at multiple properties including the household where the family lived and her grandparents' house.
The defendant had been released on bail for the entire eight-month hearing at the Central Criminal Court. After jurors delivered initial guilty findings against him, he stopped attending. A bench warrant was issued once his absence became clear. Detectives currently have no leads on where he might be.
The proceedings lasted 131 days, the longest criminal trial ever held in the Republic. Deliberations alone consumed a fortnight. Two additional uncles escaped conviction when the jury could not agree, and the prosecution withdrew rape allegations against them. Another brother saw charges dropped mid-trial.
The woman at the centre of the case suffers from profound hearing loss and was denied access to Irish Sign Language during childhood. An expert witness explained that this language deficit left her unable to grasp basic concepts about how society functions — akin to a small child whose questions go unanswered.
Family life was chaotic: the father drank heavily and repeatedly beat the mother and some offspring. The victim communicated through improvised gestures and, during assaults, typed the word "no" into her phone to plead with her attackers.
Reading her impact statement to the court, prosecutor Roisin Lacey relayed how the woman had longed as a child for welfare services to rescue her and place her with a caring adoptive family. She felt imprisoned by relatives who controlled every aspect of her existence, wore dark garments to hide her body, and contemplated ending her life before deciding to break free instead.
Sentencing for the three remaining offenders is set for 19 October. Psychiatric evaluations for two of them will not be complete before that date.
Source: The Irish Times
Source: Irish Times