THE murdered daughter of an RUC officer, Mr John Torney may have told her mother her teenage brother had tried to rape her, Belfast Crown Court heard yesterday.
Emma Torney (10) told schoolfriends that she planned to tell her mother the weekend before all three were found shot in September 1994.
Emma had also confided in friends that her brother John had threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it.
Her father, Mr John Torney (40), denies murdering Emma, her brother John jnr (13) and their mother at their Lomond Heights home in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, on September 19th, 1994.
Mr Torney claims his son ran amok with his police issue Ruger revolver and shot his mother and sister before killing himself.
A friend of Emma, referred to only as Laura, told the court: "She said her brother John was sexually abusing her and that it had started over the summer holidays".
Her brother would take her to dark alleyways or the park, and he warned that if she told anyone she would be very sorry.
A second friend, Joanne, whose surname was not given to the court, claimed in her evidence that Emma was "sad about problems at home, particularly her brother" and that he had "tried to rape her in a park".
She said Emma also claimed her brother warned that if she told anyone "he would kill her".
Earlier the trial judge, Lord Justice Carswell, told jurors they should not be concerned "with the truth of the allegations". He said they should be concerned with the effect the claims might have had on Emma.
The court was also told that John Torney jnr knew about guns and how they worked.