A MAN charged with 66 counts of sexually abusing two of his second cousins 30 years ago has failed in a High Court bid to stop his trial.
The offences, 65 of indecent assault and one of buggery, were alleged to have been committed against a girl and a boy at a number of locations in Dublin over a number of years in the 1970s.
The offences are alleged to have begun when the man was aged about 18 while the girl was aged six and the boy was 11.
The man claimed he could not receive a fair trial due to a number of factors, including the deaths of a number of witnesses and changes to sheds at the rear of a location where the offences were alleged to have been committed.
Mr Justice Éamon de Valera refused yesterday to grant an order prohibiting the trial after finding the man had failed to show a real risk of an unfair trial. The issues raised could be dealt with by the trial judge, he said.
The man had failed to establish that “unavoidable unfairness” was likely to arise by virtue of his various claims, the judge said.
The man had claimed his parents and grandparents, all of whom have died, could have given evidence relating to the allegations, including claims he used to shout at the children and used a cane to frighten them.
Another witness, a “Mr S”, who is also dead, was also accused by the girl of indecent assault and could have challenged her credibility, the man claimed.
In opposing his application, the Director of Public Prosecutions argued that delay in relation to the making of the complaints was not an issue in the case as it had already been settled by a Supreme Court decision.
The DPP argued there was no prosecutorial delay as the man was charged in November 2006 – the first complaint having been made in March 2005 – and returned for trial in January 2007. In May 2007, he initiated his High Court judicial review seeking to stop his trial.