A child abuse notification detailing that her father accepts he abused her. Source: TheJournal.ie

A MAN ACCUSED of sexually interfering with his daughter - only for gardai to fail to pass on a file to the DPP containing that criminal complaint – was close to a senior garda who would visit the house regularly, TheJournal.ie has discovered.

The alleged victim, whose case has been reopened by a garda review team in the last two months following a number of pieces by this publication, has long pleaded for her father to face charges for the regular abuse and rape she says she was subjected to in the 1980s.

Since publication of TheJournal.ie’s initial story earlier this year, where claims are made that gardaí told her that the file which was to be sent to the DPP was lost, TheJournal.ie has uncovered that the alleged abuser had a cordial friendship with a senior member of An Garda Síochána who has since passed away.

The alleged abuser and the senior garda became friends in the 1980s when they attended the same church in Dublin.

TheJournal.ie has travelled to the church where parishioners have confirmed that the two men knew each other well. A lay member of the church who we asked if she knew of accusations against the alleged abuser, said she didn’t wish to comment on that.

TheJournal.ie has also spoken to neighbours of the woman who was abused. These people have confirmed to us that the senior member of An Garda Síochána was a regular visitor to the house.

Associates

The alleged victim in this case has said she was delighted to hear that gardaí had reopened her case. She said she had been told from a young age that she was a liar and a troublemaker.

The woman said her father first raped her as a child and encouraged one of her brothers to do the same. Her claims were verified by social workers and in documents seen by TheJournal.ie and shown here, a social worker said “the father accepts he abused her”.

However, even though the woman brought her claims to gardaí in 1997, when she was in her 20s, the case was only passed on to the Director of Public Prosecutions ELEVEN years later, in 2008.

The woman said she received a call from a blocked number shortly after the file eventually went to the DPP telling her that no charges were to be brought against her father and that she received no official correspondence from gardaí to that effect.

In July of this year, TheJournal.ie reported that the Garda Commissioner at the time Nóirín Ó Sullivan ordered that a review be held in relation to claims.

Files obtained by this publication showed how her father admitted abusing her, that the child abuse was confirmed by social workers and the Eastern Health Board and that the victim had been removed from her home by court order but was then sent home six months later where she says she was repeatedly raped.

Documentation by the Eastern Health Board (EHB) and social workers seen by TheJournal.ie confirm the following:

The woman was sexually assaulted as a child

Her father and brother performed “full intercourse” with the child

Child sex abuse was confirmed by the social workers and EHB

Her father cut a hole in her wall and would routinely watch his daughters undress

She and her three sisters were placed in care for a time. She was 7 at the time.

Two older sisters were then sent to a home in the southeast of the country

The victim and her younger sister went to a children’s home in north Dublin

All the girls were returned to the family home after six months

No male child was ever removed from their family home

Court documents show that the parents were described as being unfit care for her

Gardaí are continuing to review the woman’s claims and a full re-investigation is underway. The woman has been asked if she is willing to go through the process of a full court case.

In a previous interview with this publication, the woman said that she is committed to fighting for justice and that she wants her “rapist father” to die in prison.

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