A 92-year old Co Clare man has gone on trial for the alleged indecent assault of two orphan girls who came into his care more than half a century ago.
At Ennis Circuit Court on Wednesday, counsel for the State Sarah Jane Comerford told the jury that it will be alleged that the accused indecently assaulted two girls on dates from July 1st, 1973 to January 31st, 1975.
The man recently turned 92 and, at the time of the alleged offences, the accused was aged between 39 and 40 and the girls between seven and nine.
The man, represented by Patrick Whyms, denies six counts of indecent assault against one girl and two counts of indecent assault against the second girl.
Comerford said that the two girls were born in 1964 and 1965 in Co Clare and their father and mother both died years apart when they were young.
Comerford said that after their mother’s death, the two stayed with a woman they called their “aunt”, who was a good friend of their mother’s. The woman was not a blood relation but was a godmother to one of the girls.
She said that the woman married the accused in the early 1970s and the two young girls moved in to live with the couple in their marital home in Co Clare.
Comerford said that it was during that time when the two girls were indecently assaulted by the accused. She said that one girl recalls two specific instances of being indecently assaulted by the accused when she was around seven or eight: once in the accused’s work vehicle and on a different date in a bed at their home.
As a nine-year-old, the second complainant would wake up in the morning and jump into bed beside the accused and his wife and the accused would indecently assault the girl, the court was told.
Counsel said that the abuse ended when one girl was sent to a school and the second girl went to live with grandparents.
Evidence is due to commence on Thursday before a jury.