Letterkenny District Court
WARNING – REPORT CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT: Two Co Donegal sisters claim they were forced to take part in a ‘sweet game’ during which they were sexually assaulted by a neighbour on a weekly basis for more than two years.
The women claim they were indecently assaulted by the man in his kitchen and in his vehicle during the 1980s.
The accused, a man now in his 50s, faces a total of 53 charges of indecent assault which he denies when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court yesterday.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, allegedly indecently assaulted the two girls when one was aged between 5 and 7 years and the other between 7 and 9 years.
The accused was a neighbour of the alleged victims at the time and was friendly with the two alleged victims and their family.
The first woman revealed how the alleged attacker would assault her in his kitchen while her sister waited outside in the hall.
The woman fought back tears as she revealed how she has turned to drink and also tried to take her own life as a result of the alleged attacks.
“He would ask us to look for sets in his pocket. There would be a whole (in his trouser pocket). He would say ‘move about more and more and squeeze and look for it’. It was his penis. There was never sweets.
“That happened every two to three days. It was on a regular basis. He would then go to the press and get the sweets. They were never in his pockets.”
The woman also alleges how the man would allegedly prey upon her in a vehicle and would sexually interfere with her by inserting his finger into her vagina and her back passage.
The woman then informed her mother of the alleged incidents and she spoke with the alleged attacker.
The man and his family moved from the area a number of months later.
The alleged victim said she did not inform the Gardai for a number of years as she was friendly with some of the man’s daughters.
She initially went to Gardai in 2008 but said she did not have the courage to go ahead with the complaint but reactivated her statement in 2010.
The other alleged victim is due to give evidence when the trial resumes next Tuesday, February 2nd.
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