A man in his 80s has secured a High Court order stopping his trial on charges of sexual assault against a neighbour's child. Mary Carolan reports
The girl was aged between 10 and 11 years at the time of the alleged assaults, while the man was in his 70s.
Mr Justice Gilligan yesterday found that the man had established a real risk of an unfair trial as his elderly sister would, as a result of the delay in making the complaint of assault, not now be available as a witness as she suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
It was alleged the sister witnessed an alleged assault.
At the time of the alleged assault and for some years afterwards, the sister was in a position to give evidence but was no longer able to do so, according to medical evidence.
Given that situation, the judge said he would make an order prohibiting the man's trial on four charges of sexual assault involving the girl, now in her 20s.
The charges extend from dates in March 1992 to July 1993.
The girl had alleged the assaults occurred when she went to the man's home. The man was a neighbour of her family's, and her mother had tended to his wife, who was ill, and the child often accompanied here.
After one alleged indecent assault, she claimed he had threatened her that if she told anyone he would take her to bed with him, which she understood would not be nice.
She had told her mother of the alleged abuse after her mother had encouraged her to watch an RTÉ programme in 1994 which dealt with child abuse.
After that programme, her mother found the girl sitting on the stairs crying. Her mother had comforted her, and the child said the man had touched her but was unwilling to tell the full story.
Mr Justice Gilligan said the girl's mother had said that after this her daughter was quite happy until July 1997, shortly before the girl was due to go to the Gaeltacht on holiday, when she told her mother she wanted to talk about what had occurred with the man.
This led to the girl being referred to the Children's Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin, and ultimately to her receiving counselling.
The girl had made a statement to gardaí in June 1998, and the man was arrested in August and denied the allegations. He was formally charged in June 1999, and applied for orders preventing his trial in July 2000.
Mr Justice Gilligan said he regarded it of significant importance that the girl had said the man's sister was present when an incident of alleged abuse occurred, and that sister was now unable to give evidence.
He found the sister's absence gave rise to a real risk of an unfair trial. The man had suffered actual prejudice as a result of the delay between the time of the alleged sexual assault and the reporting of the matter to gardaí, and would grant an order prohibiting the trial.