TWO of Donegal’s bravest teenage girls wept and hugged each other as a jury found their evil father guilty of beating them and giving them drink over a sickening four year reign of terror at their home in the county.
The evil dad can’t be named – to protect the identity of the girls. The girls have asked for their anonymity to be protected as they re-build their lives with loving foster parents. (Please DO NOT speculate on social media and respect the girls’ wishes).
Their joy at being believed by a jury at Letterkenny Circuit Court couldn’t be held back.
Their mother had stood by their father as he pleaded not guilty to six counts of cruelty towards the children.
And their brother – who had given an extensive and detailed statement detailing the physical abuse – withdrew his statement and gave evidence backing his dad, saying he had made up his claims.
The charges relate to alleged offences between May 1, 2008 and April 22, 2012. The six children were taken from their parents by social services in January 2008 and the returned to their parents two months later.
By May they were being battered with a stick, punched in the head, head-butted, slapped and had their heads banged off bars in a series of sickening attacks which would last for the next FOUR YEARS!
The girls, now aged 18 and 15, were aged just 10 and seven when their sick dad’s drunken attacks began.
The daughter now aged 18 cried as she gave evidence before a jury and Judge John O’Hagan as she told of weekly assaults by her dad, made to re-live the hell.
The girl told the court that at first everything seemed fine in March 2008.
“Dinner would be on the table when we got home from school and the house was clean,” said the girl who is now in foster care.
She said her parents were having the odd drink at the weekend.
However after a few weeks her mother would stay away from the house during the week in a friend’s flat to be nearer to her place of work.
Her father began drinking heavily, she claimed, sometimes until 7am in the morning.
She said each day her older sister would get her father to bed before they woke the younger children, made them breakfast and got them ready for school.
The teenager said that on St Patrick’s Day in 2009 she had gone to the shop. She sent a text to her mother and older sister telling them her dad was drinking again.
When she got home her dad had shouted at her: “Are you mouthing?”
She said her dad had gone to a cupboard, poured himself a rum and coke, and gone into the conservatory.
The girl said she went into the kitchen to make food for the other children when her dad then came up behind her and kicked her. She alleged he then banged her head off a cupboard door and when she turned around he head-butted her.
When he had finished assaulting her, she claimed he turned around and began strangling her older brother before stopping suddenly.
“Any time we stepped out of line we got hit,” she said.
The witness said she told friends at school about the alleged abuse and later told a teacher.
She said her older sister also confirmed what had been happening.
The teenager confirmed that her older sister had withdrawn her claims a day later and had written a letter saying the claims were made up because of a row over boyfriends.
However the witness said she refused to co-sign the letter. She stuck to the story – because it was true.
Later a garda interview with a younger sister – now aged 15 – and filmed when she was 11, was played to the jury.
In the taped interview the girl said she had been assaulted on a number of occasions by her father.
“Why is daddy being so mean?” she asked.
She cried as she claimed her father had grabbed her by the hair and banged her head off a metal part of her bed. She said she wasn’t bleeding after the alleged attack but that she was very sore.
On another occasion he had grabbed her by the throat, she claimed, saying her father was always drinking at home.
“Even on New Year’s Eve they (her parents) were so angry,” said the girl in the taped interview.
She alleged that on another occasion her dad had smashed up furniture including her late granny’s chair.
“She wouldn’t have liked what was going on,” she said.
The girl then gave evidence in the case.
A primary school teacher who taught the girl when she was at primary school said she had a conversation with the girl walking near her home.
She said the girl had a bag over her shoulder and she waved to her. The teacher said she was quite upset and crying and told her she was running away from home.
The teacher said the girl said she had left home but didn’t want to say why.
“I just tried to calm her down,” said the teacher who returned the girl to her home.
Last night at Letterkenny court the girls were believed. They were relieved and delighted.
Their mother and brother left court with their evil dad.
Their dad will be sentenced in July.