BACKGROUND:After the first meeting with gardaí, concerns were raised about the children's welfare
GARDAÍ ENDED up initiating a very different kind of investigation after they arrested a man who was on the run from police in Britain in September 2007.
A European Arrest Warrant had been issued for the man who had failed to comply with conditions laid down on his early release from prison seven years earlier. He had served a sentence for the indecent assault of a girl.
Gardaí in a country town learned that he was in their area and arrangements were made for his arrest. When he arrived at the station, he had his wife and five children with him and concerns were immediately raised about the children’s welfare. An emergency care order was obtained for the three boys and two girls, then aged between four and 11.
A garda organised food for them and both gardaí and social workers remarked on the way the children fell hungrily on the chips.
One social worker recalled that the eldest child put chips into his pocket as he was eating. The court would later hear that his father hit him after he crept downstairs one night and ate a block of cheese because he was hungry.
Another social worker who arrived to collect the girls was taken aback at the clothes they were wearing. It was the end of September yet the four and eight year-old girls were wearing short skirts and ankle socks. She asked for their coats but was told there were none.
When she first met the girls she assumed they had dark brown hair so she was surprised when she next met them at their foster home and found that they had fair hair.
The foster mother who took the two girls into her care had many years experience in fostering but she was so traumatised by what she saw that she had to have counselling.
The youngest girl’s hair was “walking alive” with lice and it took up to three weeks to clear the infestation. The eight-year-old was extremely thin and her hair was straw-like and impossible to brush.
Both girls were wearing soiled underpants and it was obvious they had not been toilet-trained properly. She was afraid to leave the girls with other people as she did not know what terrible things they would say.
Several people who came into contact with the children spoke of how they ate like savages, as though they feared that their food would be taken away.
Not surprisingly, the family’s new neighbours knew little about their background when they moved to the country town years earlier. They were shocked when newspapers reported that the accused man had been wanted by police in Britain.
One neighbour recalled how he did odd jobs in the neighbourhood and often fixed cars in his driveway, which made the estate look untidy. Another neighbour said the children were scruffy and did not seem to be well cared for.
When they came into her house, they were always hungry and frequently asked for food if they saw it in her kitchen. They would walk around without their shoes, prompting neighbours to tell them to go home and put something on their feet.
Another foster mother recalled the day she met the 10-year-old boy she was to care for. She opened her door to find a small and very dirty child on her doorstep, accompanied by two social workers.
He was wearing trousers that were half way up his legs and his runners were dirty and full of holes. His jumper was about two sizes too small and he was not wearing socks or underwear.
She gave him some chicken nuggets and chips and she recalled how he put his hands protectively over the plate, as though someone might take it from him. She asked that his clothes be sent from home but when they arrived they were all too small for him.
His reading skills were poor but she later discovered that he was a bright child and was eager to learn.
In an unusual move, all five children gave evidence via video link to the court during the 13-day hearing in April. Their father faced 11 counts of neglect, wilful assault, sexual assault and rape; however Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne directed a not guilty verdict on one of the sexual assault charges during the trial.
Two and a half years after they were taken into care, there was no sign of the hunger and neglect observed on the day their father was arrested. The children looked healthy and well cared for and the younger children, in particular, drew smiles from the court as they spoke about school plays, First Communion and homework.
There were poignant moments too, as the youngest child regularly assumed the barristers were talking about her foster parents when they asked about her father and mother. When she began giving her evidence, she struggled to be seen by the video camera because of her size.
At one point, when the court was preparing to resume questioning the eldest daughter about sexual abuse allegations, the sound of the Nintendo Wii could be heard coming from the child witness room as she whiled away the time on the Mii channel.
The eldest boy was reluctant to criticise his father and said that while his father “went a little too far” in hitting him, “I think he did it for my own good”. Yet when his foster mother first met him, she saw an “extremely angry” child, who ate to the point of being sick.
The accused man’s evidence bore no resemblance to the recollections of other people who had come into contact with his children. He said he had often taken his wife and children shopping and the children had lots of clothes.
He believed the children were washed “nearly every day” as there was never any hot water in the boiler when he got home from work. There was always food in the house and the weekly grocery shopping cost from €100 to €150, he said.
“Everything was perfect,” he said, when asked how he had been getting on in the marriage and raising the children. However, when pressed on the violence towards the children, he conceded that he had gone too far. Asked if had gone overboard in punishing the children, he said: “Looking back, I think I did.”
The jury agreed, finding him guilty on three counts of assault and four counts of neglect, but failing to reach a verdict on the counts of rape and sexual assault against his eldest daughter and the neglect of the youngest boy.
The DPP has now directed a retrial on the charge of rape and sexual assault against his eldest daughter.
Legal proceedings are under way against the man’s wife, who is due to stand trial on related charges next year.
