Man (53) on trial charged with sexually and physically assaulting his daughter and her cousin

A fifty-three years old man has gone on trial at the Crown Court in Derry charged with sexually and physically assaulting his daughter and her cousin over a fourteen year period starting in September 1992 when both girls were aged eight.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies a total of twenty-seven alleged offences including rape, indecent assaults and cruelty offences.

Opening the case to the jurors, prosecution barrister Richard Weir K.C., said the allegations involved a dysfunctional family and that the alleged abuse occurred after the break down of the defendant's marriage. He said all but one of the offences allegedly occurred in the Derry city area and the remaining offence is alleged to have taken place in Co. Donegal.

Mr. Weir said the alleged sexual assaults occurred regularly and frequently and involved one incident of rape and multiple incidents of digital penetration. The prosecutor said twenty of the charges related to the defendant's daughter, one of them rape, and seven of the charges related to the defendant's niece which allegedly took place in her bedroom when he was babysitting her.

Mr. Weir said the cruelty charges related to the defendant allegedly punching his daughter and hitting her with a belt, once when she intervened to attempt to stop her father from assaulting her brother. He said one of the alleged sexual assaults on the defendant's niece occurred when he digitally penetrated her as she tried on her school uniform.

After Mr. Weir's opening statement, recorded achieving better evidence interviews of the two complainants outlining their allegations to the police were played to the jurors.

The trial, which is being heard by Recorder Judge Neil Rafferty, KC is expected to last into next week.