Waterford parents plead not guilty to sexual abuse charges

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

A child's parents were on trial at the Central Criminal Court on 82 charges of alleged abuse in Waterford between 2007 and 2011. The proceedings were reported on 5 May 2016.

Both parents pleaded not guilty to 16 counts each of sexual exploitation and one charge each of child cruelty. The mother also denied 16 counts of sexual assault, while the father denied 16 counts of anal rape and 16 counts of sexual assault with a poker.

Their son was placed with the foster family after being removed from his parents' home aged eight in 2013. On 5 May 2016, in the fifth week of the trial, a local garda gave evidence about a report she had compiled on alleged sexual abuse within that foster family.

Most allegations concerned the eldest foster child, identified as CF, which were not his real initials. The court heard that only one set of allegations against him had reached court, where he admitted abusing his foster mother's nephew. He was awaiting sentence and no longer lived in the foster home.

The court had also heard that one of the children allegedly abused by CF was alleged to have raped the complainant in the parents' trial. No charges were brought over that allegation because that child was under the age of criminal responsibility at the time.

There were no allegations of abuse by the foster parents. The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Robert Eagar and a jury.