A FORMER SPORTS coach has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s.
The man (77), who cannot be named due to the nature of the charges, is accused of 78 indecent assaults and one attempted rape in a number of locations within the State on dates between 1971 and 1981.
The complainants were aged between eight and 15 when the alleged offences occurred.
At the Central Criminal Court this morning, the man pleaded guilty to five counts of indecently assaulting one of the girls on a number of dates between May and September 1976.
He pleaded not guilty to 73 counts of indecently assaulting the four girls on dates between 1971 and 1981, and one count of attempted rape in 1976.
In his opening address, prosecuting lawyer James Dwyer BL told the jury of six men and six women that the four complainants were under the age of 15 when the majority of the alleged offences occurred.
He said the man had “exploited his position of authority” as a coach and sexually abused the girls “who had been entrusted to his care”.
He said the alleged abuse took place in a number of locations, including in changing rooms, in the accused’s car, in some of the complainants’ own beds, in a derelict house in the case of one complainant and in the accused’s own home in relation to another complainant, who was babysitting his children at the time.
Dwyer said the jury would hear evidence that the alleged abuse took the form of kissing, inappropriate touching, digital penetration, forced oral sex and, in relation to one complainant, attempted rape.
In relation to the five guilty counts pertaining to one complainant, Dwyer said these occurred during a period where the accused is facing sample counts of abusing over an 18-month period after training.
He said the man is alleged to have kissed the first complainant by putting his tongue in her mouth, taking her hand and putting it on his penis, pulling down her underwear and touching her vagina, putting his fingers inside her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
The accused has denied 29 counts of indecently assaulting the first complainant on dates between 1975 and 1977.
He has denied two counts of indecently assaulting the second complainant on dates between 1975 and 1977. It is alleged that he came into a room where she was sleeping and touched her breasts and leg under the covers. It is further alleged that on a second occasion, he put his fingers under her clothing and touched her breasts and vagina.
He has denied 41 counts of indecently assaulting the third complainant, and one count of attempting to rape her, on dates between 1971 and 1975.
It is alleged that he assaulted the third complainant several times in his car when he collected her from training. He allegedly put her hand on his penis and put his hand under clothes to touch her vagina and forced her head on his penis. Another incident allegedly took place when he drove her to a derelict house and kissed her, digitally penetrated her and forced her to masturbate him.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to one count of indecently assaulting the fourth complainant on a date between 1980 and 1981. It is alleged that on this occasion, he put his hand under her coat onto her groin and vagina while she was in his car.
‘Back in those days, you didn’t know anything’
This afternoon, the first complainant gave evidence to the trial. She told the court that she was around 13 when she was first abused by the accused at a disco.
She said she remembered feeling excited at the time because she had never been to a disco before. She said she remembered that while a few of those attending were “milling around” outside, the accused took her by the hand and led her back inside to a small office.
“He just kind of hugged me and pressed against me. I remember him putting his hand on my bottom,” she said.
She said she didn’t know how to feel during the incident, and that there may have been a part of her that felt flattered that he showed her “special attention”, but that she may also have found it weird. “Back in those days, at that age, you really didn’t know anything.”
She alleged that the second time the man abused her, he “ushered me into his office” and closed the door. She said he hugged her before pushing her onto her knees and putting his penis in her mouth.
She said this happened on a number of occasions. She described one incident in the office where she was wearing her school uniform and they “ended up on the floor” after the “usual hugging and kissing” with her skirt pulled up.
She recalled how she hated the underwear she was wearing because they were synthetic and she found them uncomfortable to wear. She said they were “probably around my ankles” while the accused kissed her, touched her chest and her vulva.
She said she felt anxious because she knew her mother was collecting her. She said she looked out the window at one point, which faced onto a car park, and saw her mother’s car through the “heavy, beige-y coloured net curtains” that were covering the window.
On another occasion, she alleged the accused forced her head onto his penis and ejaculated in her mouth before handing her a disposable cup. “I remember spitting into it,” she said.
She also recalled how he would answer the phone in the office “while holding me” and would not let her go while having a conversation on the phone.
‘You just did what you were told’
She told the court that she “did not have a clue at that age” about sex or male anatomy.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. I was very obedient,” she said, adding that back then, an adult “told you to hop and you just hopped. You just did what you were told.”
She said the accused was a family friend and that he had been in her home and she in his on various occasions.
She recalled one occasion when she was in her bedroom when the accused came into the room and sat on her bed. She said he started to kiss her with his tongue and her put her hand on his penis outside his clothes.
She said she could not remember if he spoke during the alleged incident. “I don’t remember a whole lot being said on any occasion, to be honest.”
She told the court the accused would also sometimes drive her to training, and on one occasion where she was sitting in the passenger seat and another person was sitting in the back seat, he took her hand and put it on his groin. “It was uncomfortable,” she said.
Asked how long the alleged abuse went on for, she said: “Many months. I can’t put an exact figure on it. It certainly wasn’t just a couple of times. It was months.”
She said it eventually “just petered out” when she was around 14 years old.
‘Now is the time’
She told the court that she went to the gardaí about the alleged abuse in 2020.
“I hadn’t ever done anything about it. I didn’t want to while my parents were still alive,” she said.
She said that back then, “there was a different lens through which all this was looked at”.
She became emotional as she told the court that she did not want to “bring this down on my parents” as it would have hurt her mother and father if she had come forward then.
“My father was actively dying at the time. I thought do you know what? Now is the time.”
Earlier this morning, Mr Justice Micheál Ó’Higgins told the jury that their role in the trial would be as “deciders of the facts” as to whether the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) had proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
“You decide on the facts of the case based on the evidence you hear in the courtroom,” he said.
He told the jury that it is “essential” that they do not discuss the evidence heard at the trial with anybody else. “These are very significant matters, it’s essential that the confidentiality of the jury is maintained,” he said.
He also told them to only consider the evidence they hear in court and not to seek out information elsewhere. “Don’t look things up on the internet. It’s not a good plan.”
The trial continues before Mr Justice O’Higgins on Wednesday. It is expected to last for up to three weeks.