Twin sisters waive anonymity to reveal identity of their abuser

By Francis Carroll, The Drogheda Independent

A 76-year-old man has been remanded in custody for sentencing after admitting he indecently assaulted twin sisters in the 1970s and ‘80s.

The victims waived their right to anonymity so that their abuser could be named.

Michael Griffin, Donore Road, Drogheda, pleaded guilty to eight sample counts of indecent assault.

The charges relate to a time between 1973 and 1982, when the sisters were aged from 4 onwards. He was aged 24 at the start. He married a relative of theirs.

One of the victims explained that she was waiving her anonymity because she wanted to be remembered as a person and not as an anonymous victim.

Mary Cooney (56) added that she wished the defendant had married into another family and felt sad that she thought this.

Regina Cooney who, like her sister, had travelled from England for a sentence hearing, said one of the reasons for waiving her anonymity was to give others the confidence to go forward.

“I grieve for the life I should have lived,” Ms Cooney outlined in a Victim Impact Statement which she read to Dundalk Circuit Court.

The abuse occurred during family visits to the home of their grandfather and to the home of Mr Griffin.

The two women made statements to gardaí about how they remembered being groped and touched over and underneath their clothes.

Mary Cooney recalled it happening every Sunday. They witnessed each other being assaulted.

Regina Cooney recounted on one occasion being “pinned to the corner” of a room by the accused after he closed the door. They were alone. He was towering over her.

She also remembered trying to remember to wear trousers as they thought this might stop him.

The abuse was beginning to cease as they became teens.

Det Gda Kevin Clancy said that both women emigrated to the UK in 1988.

Revelations of the assaults led to a break down in relations between the sisters and other family members.

He continued that Michael Griffin denied the allegations. He made a voluntary cautionary statement at his house on June 27, 2022.

“I used to laugh and joke and mess and I’m still like that at 73,” he said.

He denied having any relationship with the twins, adding that he was “baffled” at the allegations against him.

Reading her Victim Impact Statement, Mary Cooney said that waiving anonymity was important to gain closure and to encourage other victims to report their trauma.

She detailed how the abuse affected her socially, psychologically, emotionally, psychosexually, physically and economically.

She emigrated aged 18 “to get away from him and his influence over the family”.

Ms Cooney continued she had avoided returning to Drogheda but wanted to start visiting the town again as it (what occurred) was no longer a secret and the shame was on Michael Griffin.

“I grieve for the life I wanted. He got to live his best life.”

In her Victim Impact Statement, Regina Cooney said that she suffered from severe depression.

The scar tissue of multiple childhood sexual assaults “never heals”.

Ms Cooney detailed the impact of the abuse on her life and said that she was estranged from an older sister and brother “because of him”.

Consequently, she has no relationship with her nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces.

Both sisters said they had never married nor had children, and that they had not engaged with the cervical screening process in the UK to avoid intimate examinations.

The court heard that Michael Griffin, who has no previous convictions, was three years in the Army until May 1970. While serving he spent six months in Cyprus.

He retired from An Post in 2010 after a 40-year career.

The third eldest of 12 children, his father had also been in the Army.

The defendant was 20 years married before that relationship broke down. He has little contact with his son and daughter.

He is in a new relationship. His partner and her daughter were in court.

He was involved in his local church, went on pilgrimages to Medjugorje and fundraised for charity.

His counsel said a letter of apology in which he asks for forgiveness, “is late in the day”.

A probation report “is unhelpful to his attitude”. He had previously made a “conditional apology”.

A plea of guilty had been entered on the day of trial.

Judge Dara Hayes said that this was serious offending over many years, effectively through most of the victims’ childhood.

He was grateful to them both for coming to court, and sorry for what happened and the impact it had.

Remanding Michael Griffin in custody to January 12 to fix a date for sentencing, Judge Hayes said a custodial sentence is an “absolute inevitability”.