A man charged with 114 counts of raping and indecently assaulting his two stepdaughters from when they were three to 12 years old has lost a Supreme Court attempt to halt his trial.
Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman noted yesterday that one of the girls, referred to as H, was diagnosed with "battered baby/child syndrome" after being admitted to hospital in 1978 with bruising of the spinal area, neck and other areas, months after the first incident of alleged abuse took place.
A brother of the girls was also admitted to hospital on two occasions in 1978 and also diagnosed with battered baby syndrome, bruising of his genital and other areas and injuries "suggestive of non-accidental infliction".
As a result of those diagnoses, both H and her brother were placed in care for a time and a local doctor was advised by the health board to keep an eye on the family, the judge also noted. A district nurse would also have called on the family regularly.
However, none of the doctors who were in contact with the family had reported anything untoward and one doctor had told gardaí it appeared to her that the children were "well cared for". The children's mother had also denied the allegations of abuse and had denied the girls' claims that she treated them for "scalding" symptoms resulting from the alleged abuse.
The case was before the Supreme Court via an appeal by the DPP against a High Court order halting the man's trial. The man is charged with 78 offences of rape and indecent assault against H and 36 similar offences against her sister on dates from 1978 to 1989. Both girls made complaints to gardaí in 1999.
The man had claimed his right to a fair trial was prejudiced because of the non-availability of certain witnesses, including the district nurse who was in contact with the family over a number of years when the alleged abuse took place. That nurse has died and the man claimed she would have been an important defence witness.
Giving the decision of the three-judge Supreme Court, Mr Justice Hardiman said this was a "difficult case". There was a public interest in having the man's guilt or innocence decided by a jury, he said. Equally, however, the very frequency and violence of the assaults alleged, including full penetrative intercourse with a very young child, seemed to indicate there would, at some point, have been clear physical evidence referable exclusively to such offences if they occurred, the judge said.
