The High Court has struck out a woman’s civil claim against her brother, which alleged rape, sexual abuse and false imprisonment between 1976 and 1980. Mr Justice Hogan ruled on 5 July 2012 that the proceedings should be dismissed for inordinate and inexcusable delay, and that the balance of justice required them to be struck out because of the risk of an unfair trial.
The woman began proceedings on 2 March 2006. The judgment records that she alleged the abuse occurred when she was aged between eight and 12, principally in the back bedroom of the family home. She said she told her father once while the abuse was happening, but that he beat her and called her dangerous. She said she disclosed the allegations to her mother, two sisters and a friend after a family gathering in October 2004.
Her brother denied the allegations. He said he had cut ties with her in 2002 and that, before the allegations came to light, a sister had told him the woman intended to make his life a misery. He also said that two relatives, a sister and a cousin, had died in the 14 months before the judgment. The court noted that the brother claimed his sister would have supported his account; that claim was not tested at trial.
The case had reached a motion to dismiss, not a trial of the abuse allegations. After the woman’s discovery was provided in April 2008, the judgment records no further step until a second notice of intention to proceed in March 2012. The brother applied to dismiss the case on 27 April 2012, relying on want of prosecution and the court’s inherent jurisdiction over delay.
Justice Hogan accepted psychiatric evidence that the woman would not have been able to pursue the action before October 2004 because of personal distress, and said he was prepared to excuse the delay before then. He also acknowledged the serious medical needs of one of her children, which required intensive care from 2008 for four years. But he concluded that, after making allegations of this gravity, she had not pursued the case with sufficient speed.
In assessing fairness, the judge cited the long interval, sparse particulars, lack of supporting documents and reliance on recollections. He said the defendant would have little means to answer the claim beyond denying it and concluded there was a real risk of an unfair trial. The court did not decide whether the alleged abuse occurred; it dismissed the proceedings on delay grounds.