A psychiatrist has criticised the Midland Health Board's assessment of an alleged sexual abuse victim, whose father is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Prof Patricia Casey, consultant psychiatrist with the Mater Hospital, told Mr John O'Kelly SC, defending, she had some concerns about the assessment techniques used by the board in relation to the schoolgirl, now 16.
A 49-year-old man pleads not guilty to a total of 22 charges of indecent and sexual assault and oral rape of his daughter on dates from 1986 to 1997. Mr Justice Smith has withdrawn a further 12 charges of rape following submissions by Mr O'Kelly, with Mr Giollaiosa O Lideadha.
The accused man denied his daughter's allegation in evidence to the jury on the fourth day of the trial and said she was telling lies.
Prof Casey said Dr Alex Carroll, of the health board, had proceeded with validation of the alleged abuse assuming that the girl's claims had been confirmed; he had assessed the alleged victim through a series of "closed questions" which ran the risk of "building a story" in the girl's mind.
Prof Casey said the psychiatric profession was scathing of the concept of recovered memory in therapy. "There is a high probability that such memories are false," she said.
She noted the alleged victim had originally claimed the sexual abuse had occurred between the ages of seven and 14, then that it dated back to the time she was three.
Mr Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, submitted that recovered memory was not relevant to the case as the alleged victim had dated the allegations to a previous date, but had not changed the substance of the allegations.
Prof Casey criticised what she claimed was an excessive number of therapy sessions totalling 80. She suggested that due to "the excessive frequency" of such sessions the victim could become too close to the counsellor.
Prof Casey agreed, however, with Mr Grehan that in most cases of sexual abuse the alleged victims' claims were true. "But one must be very aware of planting memories," she added.
The hearing continues before a jury of 10 men and two women.