The High Court has prohibited part of a historical sexual abuse prosecution against F.C. while allowing the remaining charges involving six other complainants to continue.
F.C., a retired builder, faced allegations from seven complainants, most of them members of his extended family, concerning alleged offences dating from 1972 to 1992. The allegations included rape, indecent assault, sexual assault and buggery. F.C. denied wrongdoing and sought to stop the prosecution on grounds including delay and prejudice caused by the passage of time.
Mr Justice John MacMenamin found that the prosecution relating to W.C. should be prohibited. W.C.'s allegations concerned incidents said to have occurred between October 1984 and December 1992. The judge held that the evidence did not establish that F.C.'s alleged dominion or its effects continued after W.C. was about 14, and that no adequate explanation had been offered for the later delay in making the complaint.
The position was different for the other complainants. The court found evidence of fear, threats, intimidation and pressure surrounding earlier complaints, including complaints made to Gardaí in the 1980s which were subsequently withdrawn. The judge said the evidence demonstrated more than dominion in a narrow sense and was consistent with a culture of intimidation involving F.C. and members of the wider family.
The court also rejected the argument that investigative and prosecutorial delay itself justified stopping the other cases. It accepted that the investigation was unusually lengthy but found it complex rather than slovenly or blameworthy.
Claims of actual prejudice from deceased witnesses and imprecise dates were also rejected as insufficiently particularised, with the judge holding that such issues could be managed at trial.
Separately, the court quashed F.C.'s return for trial because of the procedural defect accepted by the State under the Supreme Court decision in Zambra v McNulty.
The ruling therefore stopped only the charges concerning W.C.; it did not determine the truth of any allegation against F.C., and the remaining charges were not prohibited.