A man has been convicted of sexually abusing a female child relative following a two week trial.
The defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, faced five charges in total – two of sexual touching and three of sexual penetration.
All charges are denied but after deliberating for around three hours, the jury found the defendant guilty of the three counts of sexual penetration.
He was cleared of the other two matters.
Offending occurred on dates between October 2020 and March 2021.
Dungannon Crown Court heard the victim – then aged 16 – told two school friends of the sexual abuse who in turn alerted a teacher and the matter was reported to police.
She had sworn the friends to secrecy and never thought they would tell anyone, so it “came as a shock when police and Social Services” arrived at school.
The victim described being, “deeply troubled, deeply unhappy and withdrawn … and was never a willing participant.”
She knew what he was doing “was wrong but was scared to tell anyone or put a stop to it”.
There was one incident in which the defendant encouraged her to lie alongside him on a sofa, with a blanket over them both.
During this, she contended “he grabbed my hand and put it under his trousers.”
This lasted for approximately 30 minutes, only stopping when another person walked into the room.
Another incident occurred in a car, when he was going for diesel and she asked to go too.
She described being driven into a dark lane where he pulled her on top of him and sex allegedly occurred.
The victim also described being in a kitchen when the defendant took her hand and placed it on his genitals.
She claimed to have become very scared and tried to avoid him.
When police became involved she confirmed initially being against participation, putting off providing a statement, as she wanted to protect her family.
In evidence the defendant contended that instead of becoming sexually involved, she was infatuated with him and it was her “fantasy”.
Under cross-examination his barrister put it to the victim that she was reluctant to hand over her phone to police contending “you were behaving inappropriately around the defendant, not the other way round”.
This was denied, to which the defence said: “In fact, your mother spoke to you about this.”
The victim confirmed this conversation did take place, however, she couldn’t remember what was discussed other than “she said to stop texting him. I wasn’t obsessed with him. I was looking for a father-figure.”
She accepted copying what he ate and drank but flatly rejected any suggestion she sent him indecent images of herself in the shower and the school toilets.
The victim denied a contention she was, “trying to stand over fibs you told in the playground which you didn’t think would be reported and trying to brazen it out.”
In terms of being reluctant to take the matter further the victim stressed: “I was trying to protect my family.”
After the jury returned their verdicts, Judge Brian Sherrard adjourned for the preparation of pre-sentence reports and ordered the defendant to sign the Sex Offender Register before leaving court.
He agreed to release the defendant on continuing bail but warned this should not be taken as any indication of how the matter will be dealt with.
Sentencing will take place on 12 September.
