A SLIGO woman told a jury yesterday she was sexually abused by her brother as a child and that on one occasion he forced his wife to interfere with her before he raped her.
The 29 year old mother of four said her brother warned her not to tell anyone. She only contacted gardai in 1995 after her sister in law killed herself. The defendant's wife had made previous attempts at suicide and had also tried to persuade her to contact gardai about her brother's behaviour, the court heard.
The woman said she was abused from the age of 11 to 14. Once her brother carried her part of the way from her house to his flat during the night. He made her lie on his bed between him and his wife, who awoke and reacted with shock.
He told his wife to touch her and despite her reluctance she did so "for a second" when he ordered her to. Her brother then raped her, the woman claimed.
Her 40 year old brother has pleaded not guilty to having sexual intercourse with her on two occasions when she says she was aged about 11 or 12.
Opening the case, Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, told the jury of six men and six women the defendant had already pleaded guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting his sister during the period covered by the rape charges.
Cross examined by Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, the woman denied a suggestion that the sexual abuse by her brother consisted of touching only. Her brother had sexual intercourse with her on two occasions, she said.
She agreed, however, that she went to gardai to withdraw the rape allegations within days of the initial complaint of both indecent assault and rape, which was made on September 6th, 1995. She agreed she had claimed she was suffering from stress exacerbated by a pregnancy.
The woman said she reinstated the rape allegations in 1996. She said she had withdrawn them following family pressure but agreed she did not tell gardai this at the time.
She also claimed she had made a pact with her brother in which he admitted raping her. He further agreed to plead guilty to the indecent assaults and attend counselling and in return she was to withdraw the rape charges.
In reply to Mr O'Carroll, she agreed she initially told gardai her brother had been interfering with her since she was three years old and he had been having "full sexual intercourse" with her from when she was aged three to 14.
The woman Said she had been "emotional and intoxicated" when she made her first statement on September 6th, 1995. She made a second statement the next day when she was sober giving a different account of the abuse. She said her evidence in court of two rape offences by her brother was correct.
The trial, before Mr Justice Geoghegan in the Central Criminal Court, continues.