In a landmark legal ruling, a Kilkenny father whose daughter died by suicide has successfully sued a man who sexually abused her as a child.
Dave Roberts, Coolcashin, Gathabawn, north Co Kilkenny, took a civil action against a neighbour, John Bowden, for the wrongful death of his daughter, Jane, who died aged 26 on October 23rd, 2000. Mr Roberts claimed that Mr Bowden's sexual abuse of his daughter when she was an eight-year-old girl had caused her to develop psychiatric illness and eventually to take her own life.
At Clonmel Circuit Court yesterday Judge Alice Doyle ruled that the sexual abuse had ultimately resulted in the woman's suicide. She awarded compensation to Mr Roberts of €25,395 - the maximum amount that can be awarded for mental distress as a result of bereavement.
Michael Lanigan, the Kilkenny solicitor who represented the Roberts family, told The Irish Times last night: "This is an unprecedented judgment in which a court has found a sex abuser liable for the suicide of his victim. This decision will be read carefully by lawyers to advise families who might find themselves in similar circumstances in the future."
During the case, which was heard in Kilkenny last month, the court was told that Jane Roberts had suffered from psychiatric illnesses and had been treated at psychiatric hospitals in Kilkenny and Carlow during the 18 months before her death.
In 1999, she contacted gardaí in Kilkenny and lodged a formal complaint that she had been sexually abused 18 years earlier by Mr Bowden, while taking swimming lessons in the public pool at Thurles, Co Tipperary.
Gardaí took statements from the Roberts family and from Mr Bowden and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, Ms Roberts died a year later and no prosecution could be brought. In January 2001, her father decided to take a civil action against Mr Bowden, now aged 62, a retired postman, of Baleen, Gathabawn, for the wrongful death of his daughter.
On the first day of the case, Mr Bowden, through his legal team, apologised to Mr Roberts who said he could not accept the apology.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Brian McCaffrey, who testified on behalf of Mr Roberts, said he believed Jane Roberts had developed a severe psychiatric illness as a result of being sexually abused. Dr McCaffrey told the court that Ms Roberts had experienced a "life-threatening experience at the swimming pool" and as a result of the sexual assault she had developed very complex illnesses which included borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.
The court heard that as a result of the abuse, which the family was then unaware of, Ms Roberts had become unhappy at school and was the only member of her family not to proceed beyond Junior Cert. She had gone on to train as a carpenter and was apprenticed to her father. She lived in the family home.
Dr McCaffrey rejected suggestions from the defence team that Ms Roberts was suffering from schizophrenia or schizo-affective psychosis and described her as "a warm, sensitive girl struggling to make sense of what happened to her".
Yesterday, the judge noted that none of the psychiatrists who had treated Ms Roberts had been available to give evidence. But after "a careful reading of the files", including the medical records which had been submitted to the court, and hearing the evidence of the two witness psychiatrists, she agreed that the abuse had caused Ms Roberts to become ill and eventually her death.
After a brief adjournment David Humphries BL, for Mr Roberts, told Judge Doyle that the Roberts family had agreed to share the award which would be split equally between both parents and the three surviving siblings of Ms Roberts.
The judge approved this proposal. Mr Humphries then asked that costs be awarded to his client.
Niamh Fennell BL, counsel for Mr Bowden, objected, saying that her client, who was not present in court, was "a retired postman, a father of six and not a man of means" and that he had already suffered from media coverage of the case which had caused him "huge personal embarrassment". But Judge Doyle noted that "up to the very day that this case started there was no admission of guilt by the defendant".
She awarded costs to Mr Roberts but agreed to a defence request to put a stay on the order in the event of an appeal.
