Mother gave permission for abuse of daughter, court told

A little girl was led around on a dog lead by a neighbour before being raped, a court heard yesterday.

The child was subjected to sexual abuse by her mother as well as by the neighbour from the age of five, Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court was told. Her father is to stand trial later this year on charges of sexually assaulting his daughter.

The neighbour was given an eight-year sentence last year after pleading guilty to the oral and vaginal rape of the child. That sentence is currently under appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

At the sentencing hearing of the mother yesterday, Judge Tony Hunt was told that the woman gave the neighbour permission to do as he wished with her daughter and “for as long as he liked”.

After yesterday's evidence the case against the mother was adjourned until May.

Exploitation
The 47-year-old woman had pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing to a total 12 charges, including sexual assault, wilful neglect or ill treatment, as well as using her daughter for the purpose of sexual exploitation. All of the charges took place between 2004 and 2008 in the west of Ireland.

Reporting restrictions prevent the identification of the victim.

The court was told that male neighbour used to babysit the girl and her siblings twice or three times a week at her original family home and began abusing her. He involved her in oral sex. He put a dog’s lead on her, led her around and then raped her.

The girl later revealed that the neighbour had told her mother about what he was doing to her and the mother said that it was fine by her – he could do it as long as he liked.

The child made it clear that when the neighbour was in the act of abuse, her mother was in the home. The woman had been having an on-off affair with her neighbour.

When interviewed the woman said she had been drinking heavily at the time and her hand may have “slipped” on to the child’s underwear.

In her victim impact statement read to the court by a woman garda, the girl, who is now 14, said she had never felt protected and was very sad. She had found the change of homes very upsetting.

'Everyday life'
"I try not to think of the crime. I thought it was everyday life and I was too afraid to tell anyone," she said.

The offences came to light after the girl was taken into care with her siblings in 2008. She initially said that her mother had been slapping her and later spoke of her mother knocking her over.

A Garda witness said that in statements from social workers and the victim, it emerged that the child often went without food and was unable to use utensils or brush her hair when taken into care at the age of nine.

Her first foster family became concerned at what they called her sexualised behaviour. Evidence was heard of the child touching herself in front of boys and later on a train journey and the return trip.

"I thought it would make them happy," she later told her therapist.

Self harm
The foster family was unable to cope and the child was moved to another foster home.

Here, she struggled to eat and did not know what it was to feel full. She spoke of several evenings when there was no food in her original family home. In her foster home she ate eight Weetabix to satisfy her hunger, but was unable to clean herself.

The child was later found to have bruises and was discovered to be self-harming by biting herself.