'I stood in a field and prayed it would stop,' Donegal jury told at sexual assault trial

A woman told how she stood in a field and prayed “that this would all stop” during a period where she alleges that she was subjected to several incidents of sexual assault at the hands of a neighbour.

The woman’s voice quivered as she recalled the incidents during the trial of her alleged attacker - who stands accused of 60 offences against nine separate complainants. She said: “I promised that I wouldn’t shed a tear for him” before continuing with her evidence.

The man, who is in his 60s, is on trial before a jury of six men and six women at Letterkenny Circuit Court. He cannot be named for legal reasons due to the nature of the alleged offending and to protect the anonymity of the complainants. 

The 60 offences include alleged incidents of indecent assault, sexual assault and attempted indecent assault against nine complainants and span a timeframe from 1978 to 1998. 

There are 23 alleged offences in respect of one complainant and 11 of the charges are in relation to another complainant. 

All nine complainants were present in court as the man replied “not guilty” when each of the 60 charges were read to him by the Court Registrar. 

The case was opened by Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the State and is expected to last two-to-three weeks before Judge John Aylmer. 

One woman told the court that the defendant had followed her into the kitchen of her own home. He placed her sitting on a chair at the table before locking his legs across her “so that I couldn’t escape”. She recalled that the man sexually assaulted her by touching her vagina.

“I tried to get out, but he was strong and I couldn’t,” she said.

After “a few minutes”, she said she was able to get away and fled to another room in the house.

She told the court of another incident when she was asked to go and help the man with a task at his house.

She recalled being told to stand on top of a brick and “i knew it wasn’t going to be good”.

The defendant made her face the opposite direction and she heard him unzip his trousers and told her: “Stop the nonsense” when she attempted to get away.

“He just wanted to get on with it,” she said. “To abuse me. I froze. I just wanted it to be over”.

She said the man again sexually assaulted her on this occasion after which she ran out of the house to a nearby field.

“I stood there and prayed that this would stop” she said.

The woman told the court that the man would regularly be at a location waiting when she was returning from school.

On one occasion, she was with her father when the man again asked if she could help with a chore in his house.

“I was hoping that maybe this time would be different,” she said. “Maybe this time, he does want me to do something meaningful.”

Her father allowed her to go to the man’s house, but she recalled feeling “very anxious, very nervous”.

When she got into a room in the house, there was a plastic box in the middle of the floor. She alleged that the man lifted her up and placed her sitting on his lap, while he sat on the box.

“He put his legs crossing over my legs so that I coudn’t escape,” she said, before detailing another incident of sexual assault.

On a fourth occasion, she said that she was in the man’s house after Mass with her parents. As they were leaving, the accused man was alleged to have caught her by the wrist and asked her to stay to help him tidy up the house.

“He praised me for being such a good worker in front of mum and dad and convinced them that I should stay,” she said.

She recalled being told to go up a ladder into an attic despite protesting that she was scared of the dark.

“I was so scared,” she said. “Frightened. Anxious. Everything was going through my head. When iI got to the top, I remember looking down and thinking to myself: ‘If I fell down, if I walked to the attic hole and fell down it would be all over. The pain would be all over’.”

She recalled the man following her into the attic, lying down on his back with his trousers undone before rubbing her hand on his penis.

“I tried to resist,” she said. “I tried to lift my hand off but he was so strong and my wrist was sore. It was so sore, I thought that it was going to snap because I was trying so hard to lift it, to stop it.”

The woman detailed a further incicent of sexual assault on the same occasion and said the man also tried to kiss her. When she got away she made a promise. She said: “I turned to him and said that I would never be back in that house again.”

She recalled the man approaching her close to his home on a further date when he “just picked me up”. She told the court that the man took her to a shed and pulled her trousers down before attempting to perform a sexual act on her.

“At that point, I started to move and got out of it,” she said. “I ran as fast as I could.”

Under cross examination from Mr Colm Smyth SC, barrister for the accused, the woman said she was adamant with her recall of matters: “I remember as a child what happened to me. That memory will not go.”

Another complainant said he was between nine and 12 years old when he was helping the man at his home and he pulled his pants down before “fondling” with his penis. 

“After I walked out of the house, I kept my distance,” he said. 

A third complainant told the court that he was in a vehicle with the accused man when he pulled into a lay-by and attempted to sexually assault him. 

‘“I crouched into the footwell of the vehicle,” the man said. “I told him to get away. Then, he drove on home and didn’t say anything.”

He said the incident made him “always conscious of older people” and added: “I just didn’t feel safe.”

Mr Smyth told this witness that his client is “dumbfounded” by the suggestion that he interfered with him and said the accusations were untrue. 

“They are true,” the witness replied.

A fourth complainant said that she was sexually assaulted  “seven to 10 times, if not more” by the accused man. 

She recalled that she was sent to drop something over to his house when he told her to sit on a chair between his legs and he “crossed his legs and put his hand under my top on my bare skin around my chest area”.

She said that she was 9-10 years old when the incident happened and that the man then put his hand down her trousers and pants.

“I just felt trapped. Very very scared,” she told the jury. “I knew that I had to scream and do something to get away from him. He just told me to calm down.”

A third male complainant said he was between five and seven when the defendant began touching his private parts after he had gone to the toilet. The man said he knew it was not right and pulled away.

Mr Smyth said that when the allegations were put to his client, he responded: “Certainly not. I never touched him, I never touched any of them.”

Ms Crawford, instructed by State Solicitor for Donegal, Mr Kieran Dillon, is leading the prosecution while the accused man is represented by Mr Smyth, 

The trial continues.