A Co Cavan woman has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that her father raped her regularly from the time she was 13 until her late teens.
The woman, now 20, told the jury of six men and six women that he raped her twice on the first occasion. She said the abuse began with him touching her when she was six or seven while he was bathing her. Her father (54) has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of raping her on dates from May 1991 to March 1997.
He also denies four charges of indecently assaulting her and one charge of sexual assault on dates from February 1987 to May 1995. The woman agreed with Mr Felix McEnroy SC, defending, that her brother died in a car accident and her boyfriend committed suicide. She had tried to injure herself and had received hospital treatment.
The woman said she was 17 when he raped her for the final time.
Cross-examined by Mr McEnroy, the woman agreed life in their home was unhappy. She had to rear her younger siblings because her mother was always drinking and both parents bickered continuously.
She agreed she had used drugs and previously drank a lot.
Pressed by Mr McEnroy, who suggested she had told the court several details she had not put into her statement, she said she had told gardai as much as she could remember.
The hearing continues.