Trial of mother accused of child abuse opens in Derry

A mother accused of holding her daughter’s hand over a hot cooker ring, beating one of her daughters with a leather belt and strangling another of her daughters until the child fainted has gone on trial at the Crown Court in Derry.

The 64-year-old woman on trial denies allegations of child sexual and physical abuse and of child cruelty against three of her children over a 10-year period starting in September 1978. The case is expected to last up to three weeks.

Public Prosecution Service barrister Roseanne McCormick QC told the jury of seven women and five men that there was compelling evidence that the alleged offences occurred. She said the oldest child, who is now an adult and who is the only complainant, alleged that her mother repeatedly assaulted her and her siblings with a hurling stick in their family home.

The alleged abuse also included the defendant beating the complainant after she had told her mother that her seven-week-old infant son had died in his cot.

The prosecutor said that among the allegations the defendant faced was her holding her daughter’s hand over a hot cooker ring, beating one of her daughters with a leather belt, strangling another of her daughters until the child fainted, forcing her children to sit with their knees together, their arms crossed and with their fingers pressed against their lips. If they made noise they were beaten with the hurling stick.

Unexpected arrival

It is also alleged that, on one occasion when the defendant’s youngest child “acted up” when a photographer called to take a family photograph, the defendant grabbed the child by the throat after the photographer had left, threw him into the air and deliberately let him fall to the floor. When the complainant went to her brother’s aid she was again assaulted by her mother who used a hurling stick.

The prosecution barrister said on another occasion it was alleged that the defendant pushed her daughter’s head and chest under the water in the bath.

“She tried to resist by kicking her feet. She was only saved by the unexpected arrival of her aunt. The aunt heard the noise upstairs in the bathroom. She went up and pulled the defendant away from the injured party in the bath and when she challenged as to what had happened, the defendant said she did not know”, the barrister said.

The barrister said the defendant also allegedly sexually assaulted the complainant over a three-year period starting when the complainant was aged 12.

“The mother was overly strict and the complainant was subjected to a regimented life. The children had to be in bed between five and six in the evening. They were constantly hungry. They were not fed adequately, nothing more than margarine and bread at dinner time,” she said.

“Sometimes the children were so hungry they would sneak out of bed and made brown sauce sandwiches.”

The barrister said when the defendant was interviewed by the police in the presence of her solicitor and an appropriate adult in 2013, she denied all of the allegations and said her daughter had made up the allegations “in an attempt to make money”.

The trial continues.