The trial of five family members at the Central Criminal Court has been told there is no evidence to support the accusation that a father sexually abused his children.
The five family members, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are accused of abusing three children between 2014 and 2016.
In relation to the “significant evidence in this case” and in particular the allegations of child abuse, “that support isn’t there”, Mark Nicholas SC, defending the father, told the jury in his closing speech on Tuesday.
The 56-year-old father has pleaded not guilty to 31 counts including rape, anal rape, oral rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and wilfully neglecting a child at locations in Munster on unknown dates between August 18th, 2014, and April 28th, 2016. An additional three counts against him were withdrawn during the trial.
Mr Nicholas said that although there was “no great delay” in bringing the case to court, certain procedures were not followed in the Garda specialist interviews with the children.
No dateline
He said it was normal practice for interviewers to attempt to put a “dateline” on when alleged events may have occurred, such as before or after Christmas or a birthday.
“Every child remembers Christmas and their birthday,” he said. “These are anchors. That was not done here.”
As a result the jury was left with a “wide range of dates” spanning a period of one year and eight months between 2014 and 2016, Mr Nicholas said.
In relation to the neglect charges, Mr Nicholas said it was important to understand that not all neglect is criminal neglect, and that neglect can happen for all kinds of reasons, such as not being able to cope. Criminal neglect has to be deliberate, the jury was told.
Mr Nicholas said social workers, family support workers and a children’s charity were all involved with the family over the years.
“There was a huge microscope put on this family ... and rightly so,” he said. “And within all that, at no stage did they say: ‘These are bad folk. This is wilful behaviour’.”