The Court of Appeal has upheld eight convictions for indecent assault against T.O’B. arising from the sexual abuse of a young girl in County Tipperary during the 1970s.
The appellant was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Criminal Court on 11 July 2019 following a three-day trial. The complainant, who was born in 1967, was the younger sister of the appellant’s wife. After her father died in 1975 and her mother moved to England, she remained for a period in the family cottage under the care of her sister and the appellant.
The complainant gave evidence of repeated sexual abuse when she was a young child. Eight counts ultimately covered offences committed when she was aged between about six and nine-and-a-half.
T.O’B. challenged the convictions on three grounds.
First, he argued that the trial judge should not have admitted evidence of an earlier incident, when the complainant was about four, in which she said he masturbated while watching her urinate in an outside shed. The Court of Appeal held that the evidence was properly admitted as relevant background. It could, the court said, be viewed as grooming or conditioning directed specifically at the complainant and as part of the context necessary to understand the later allegations.
Second, the appeal argued that the jury should have been discharged after the complainant referred to the appellant as an alcoholic associated with violence and later said that he had tried to kill her brothers. The Court of Appeal held that neither incident required the “nuclear option” of discharging the jury. It found that the trial judge had properly instructed the jury to disregard extraneous material and focus on the charges.
Finally, the appellant challenged amendments to the dates on six counts after the prosecution case closed. The court found no specific prejudice. It noted that the complainant was recalling events from early childhood decades later and that her core account did not depend on precise dates.
All three grounds were rejected and the appeal was dismissed.