Mother let a neighbour abuse her own daughter

A GIRL was sexually abused by her mother and neighbour from the age of five, a court has heard.

The girl’s mother gave the neighbour permission to do as he wished with her daughter and ‘for as long as he liked’, a judge was told.

In harrowing evidence yesterday, Judge Tony Hunt heard the girl was led around with a dog lead before being raped by the neighbour.

The mother, 47, was before court yesterday for sentencing after admitting 12 charges, including sexual assault, wilful neglect or ill treatment, and using her daughter for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

In a victim impact statement, the girl, now 14, said she had never felt protected and was very sad.

She said: ‘I try not to think of the crime. I thought it was everyday life and I was too afraid to tell anyone.’

The court heard that the girl often went without food and was unable to use utensils or brush her hair when she was taken into care at the age of nine.

The horrific offences came to light after the girl was taken into care with her siblings in 2008. She initially said that her mother had been slapping her and later spoke of her mother knocking her over.

Garda Naomi Sloyan said statements from social workers and the victim revealed the mother had taught her daughter to perform a sexual act on herself when she was just five.

Her first foster family became concerned at what they called her sexualised behaviour. Evidence was heard of the child performing a sex act in front of boys and on a train. ‘I thought it would make them happy,’ she later told her therapist.

The foster family was unable to cope and the child was moved to another foster home. Here, she struggled to eat and did not know what it was to feel full. She also spoke of several evenings when there was no food in her original family home. In her foster home she ate eight Weetabix to satisfy her hunger, but was unable to clean herself.

The child was later found to have bruises and was discovered to be self-harming by biting herself.

The court heard how a male neighbour used to babysit the girl and her

‘Mammy tells me to tell lies all the time’

siblings twice or three times a week at her original family home. The neighbour got her to perform a sexual act and then raped her.

She later revealed the neighbour had told her mother about what he was doing to her and the mother said it was fine by her and said he could do it as long as he liked.

The child made it clear that the neighbour was abusing her while her mother was in the home. The woman had been having an on-off affair with her neighbour.

The neighbour was last year given an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of rape of the child. That sentence is currently under appeal by the DPP.

The girl also gave details of how her mother had behaved sexually towards her. When interviewed, the woman said she had been drinking heavily at the time.

Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court was told that a number of statements had been taken from social workers, foster carers and from the complainant herself.

Initially there were concerns the mother had not been taking her medication and that the family was experiencing financial difficulty.

When the child reported having been slapped by her mother, the woman admitted knowing that such action was banned.

When the child was later in foster care, the foster mother expressed concern that the girl did not have adequate or appropriate clothing and had difficulty showering. The HSE became involved in the case in 2008 after she was taken into care on January 1.

Allegations then emerged of her mother touching her inappropriately. The mother told gardaí that any inappropriate behaviour only happened ‘with drink on me’.

In a letter to her therapist, the child wrote of her compulsion to perform a sexual act on herself.

‘Can you please help me. I find it hard to stop, because Mammy told me to tell lies all the time,’ she said in the letter.

Lawyer Caroline Biggs, prosecuting, said the maximum sentence for sexual exploitation of a child was life imprisonment while the longest for sexual assault was 14 years.

All the incidents with which the mother was charged happened between 2004 and 2008 in the west of Ireland.

She was released on continuing bail to re-appear before the court for sentence in May.