A Wexford farmer has been found guilty of four counts of indecent assault in the early 1980s. The trial of Sean Byrne of Mooretown, Ballymitty, commenced on Wednesday May 7th and concluded one week later when the jury found him guilty of abusing his niece by marriage Assumpta Carthy.
Ms Carthy is the daughter of the late County Councillor Leo Carthy.
During the trial it emerged that Broadway native Ms Carthy was “triggered” to report the abuse to Gardai shortly after her father’s death in 2010.
The jury was told that during her father’s wake she was shaking the hands of many sympathisers she accidently shook the defendant’s hand before she “realised whose hand it was.”
“It was like a flashback and I suddenly felt like I was back there again. I felt like I was a child again,” she said.
Having had little contact with the defendant since she told her mother about the abuse on the occasion of her eleventh birthday, Ms Carthy told the court that she was extremely upset when it came to closing her father’s coffin and Byrne remained in the room.
“It was meant to be private, only family; he wasn’t meant to be there. I was so upset that I had to leave the room,” she said.
The jury was also told Cllr. Carthy did not know about the assaults.
The offences occurred on two dates during the summer of 1984 when the victim was aged. The two other counts occurred at Christmas of that year and during the summer of 1985.
All four assaults occurred when she was staying at the defendant’s home during the school holidays.
For the full story see this week’s Wexford Echo.