One of seven alleged victims of terrible child abuse was too scared to fight back even when he was a growing teenager, he told a court today.
He told the trial of a Co Armagh couple accused of a catalogue of ill treatment and abuse stretching back over 15 years: "I would get a slap, a punch or get kicked."
Sometimes he was struck with a belt and a rubber covered cattle prod was used "regularly", he said. When the judge asked him if he ever fought back as he got older the witness replied: "I was too afraid."
The man and woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the youngsters, showed no expression or emotion as they sat side by side in the dock at Antrim Crown Court sitting in Coleraine, Co Derry.
One of the alleged victims of the abuse, shot himself dead after he and his siblings were relentlessly beaten, the court has been told.
The jury of eight women and four men heard the alleged latest abuse victim say he was beaten three and sometimes four times a week.
He said when he was younger the children would be lined up in the living room with their trousers around their ankles for punishment to be meted out.
Asked who was punished most, he replied: "Whoever had been bad during the day."
Asked if he suffered bruising, the witness replied: "Sometimes, it would depend on how hard I was hit." He revealed that after his brother's death he had undergone treatment for depression.
Under cross examination by a defence lawyer representing the accused woman, the court heard the witness had withdrawn two earlier allegations of abuse during interview with social workers.
PA