Sister tells of history of sexual abuse in Dublin family home

The sister of Cynthia Owen, who claims her newborn infant was stabbed to death in south Dublin 34 years ago, told the inquest…

The sister of Cynthia Owen, who claims her newborn infant was stabbed to death in south Dublin 34 years ago, told the inquest their mother offered to kill her own unborn child, and that she was also sexually abused in the family home.

"I was three months pregnant," Frances Murphy told Dublin County Coroner's Court. She said she had fallen pregnant by her boyfriend as a teenager. "My mother told me she could help me kill my baby with a knitting needle."

She refused to allow this, and miscarried a short time later, the court heard.

Ms Murphy also said she recalled being raped on two occasions in the family home by a man referred to as C when she was about nine years old.

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She was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of an unidentified infant found stabbed to death in a laneway in 1973. Her sister, Ms Owen, has claimed to be the mother of that infant, whom Ms Owen named Noleen. An inquest into Noleen's death was reopened in 2005.

Ms Murphy told the inquest that her brother, Martin, told her that he had also been raped in the family home by a man referred to as A. The inquest heard that Martin Murphy committed suicide in 1995.

Ms Murphy also said she had a recollection of "Cindy's stomach getting very large" at some stage during her childhood.

Ms Murphy also claimed that she visited the family's new home in Sallynoggin after her brother's suicide and her mother told her: "I did what you wanted me to do. I stabbed A for raping most of you. A was taken away in an ambulance."

Another of Ms Owen's sisters, Margaret Stokes, told the inquest she "never witnessed any sexual abuse in the family home".

As a teenager, she said, she fell pregnant by her boyfriend when living in the family home. She miscarried this child, which her mother flushed down the toilet. "My mother wrapped it in a towel and flushed in down the toilet." She added that she did not attend a doctor or hospital after the miscarriage.

Ms Stokes said she believed the alleged abuse of her sisters Frances and Cynthia was "made up for revenge".

Ms Stokes told the inquest her daughter, Theresa, whom she gave birth to at age 16 and grew up at the family home in Dalkey, committed suicide in 2005. "She hung herself. She made allegations that my mother and father had been sexually abusing her."

Ms Stokes said she did not believe the allegations made by her daughter in a suicide letter.

Esther Roberts, another sister, told the inquest that on two occasions different men attempted to sexually assault her as a child but were unsuccessful. One incident took place in the family home while another occurred outdoors, nearby the family home.

She added that she did not believe that her sister gave birth to a baby who was later murdered.