Waterford father convicted of raping his son

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A jury convicted a Waterford father of raping his son from the age of six. The proceedings were reported on 20 May 2016.

Jurors took just over seven hours to return the guilty verdicts against the 64-year-old, who cannot be named to protect his son’s identity. They also convicted him of one count of child cruelty for locking his son in a box for six hours.

The father faced nine counts of raping the boy, nine counts of raping him with a poker and one count of cruelty. He was acquitted of the hot-poker rape charges.

The mother faced two sexual assault counts concerning allegations that she had sex or simulated sex with the boy, and one cruelty count. She was acquitted of the sexual allegations. Jurors were still deliberating on her cruelty charge concerning the box incident and were due to return on Monday.

Both parents had pleaded not guilty. The allegations concerned events between 2009 and 2011 in their Waterford home. They originally faced 82 charges, but 60 were withdrawn during the week of the report following legal argument.

Prosecuting counsel Pauline Walley SC asked Mr Justice Robert Eagar to remove the father’s bail. The judge remanded him in custody until Monday and declared him a sex offender.

The judge told jurors there was no corroborative evidence from anyone who might have witnessed the abuse, but they could convict if they believed the child. Gardaí found no poker or abuse videos during two searches. A medical examination found no signs of abuse; the examining doctor said most sexual abuse leaves no lasting injuries and the examination occurred three months after the child left home.

The father alleged social workers had brainwashed the boy. His defence counsel suggested there was a kernel of truth to that belief and criticised their failure to tell gardaí about the boy’s February 2015 retraction. When reinterviewed, the boy said the abuse happened and he had retracted because he did not want to undergo the trial.