Gerry Mooney, now 61, raped his sister Olivia Payne in their parents' bed while the adults watched television downstairs, a court has heard. Mooney abused Olivia in their family home when she was just 11 and he was around 16 or 17 years old.
Olivia, who has waived her right to anonymity, confronted Mooney during her victim impact statement at his sentence hearing at Dublin's Central Criminal Court. She said she was raped by her brother in what "should have been the safest place on earth for me - my home".
Victim confronts her abuser
Addressing Mooney directly, Olivia said: "I hand the filth, shame and disgust of those actions back to you." She added: "You showed your true cowardice by lying through this process. Shame, shame on you."
She said the "real win" for her was the fact that she had "the inner strength" to disclose the abuse and face the court process twice. She told the court she will be "forever grateful" to a jury for "hearing me" after Mooney was convicted of rape.
Details of the abuse
Mooney, formerly of Clonin, Rhode, Co Offaly, was convicted by a jury earlier this year of the rape and indecent assault of Olivia at their family home in 1982, when she was just 11. He had pleaded not guilty to the offences and has no previous convictions.
Sergeant Tracey Goslin told the court that when Olivia was younger the family had a tradition of watching the nine o'clock news together. As the youngest, she was asked to go into her parents' bed and warm it up for them before bedtime. At the time, Olivia slept in a single bed in her parents' room.
Olivia later told gardai that Mooney would come into the room and get under the covers. On one occasion he sexually abused her and on another occasion he raped her. She recalled it was around Christmas time because she remembered a television advertisement for a doll she wanted. Mooney promised to get her that doll if she did not tell anyone about the abuse.
Aftermath and disclosure
After the rape, Olivia noticed blood on her nightdress and on the sheet on her parents' bed. She tried to clean it up with a facecloth and then tried to dry the damp patch by lying on the bed with her bare skin, worried she would be in trouble. When her parents came to bed that evening, the sheet was still damp and her mother accused her of wetting the bed before changing the sheets.
Olivia got married in 1992 and her husband was the first person she disclosed the abuse to. She made a formal complaint to gardai in January 2020 and Mooney was arrested and interviewed in April 2022. He said he had no recollection of the events as his sister had described.
In her victim impact statement, Olivia turned to face her brother and said he raped an 11-year-old girl in their parents' bed with heinous callousness. She said: "You violated my body in the most calculated manner.... with no regard for the horror you were inflicting on me." She said her brother had thought that for 40 plus years "you had got away with it but each and every one of those years I have suffered those consequences".
Colman Fitzgearld SC, defending, asked the court to accept that his client was a minor at the time of the offending. He said Mooney served in the army for 20 years with "a perfect service record" and has continued to work since, mostly manual work and in the building trade. He said Mooney is married with two daughters and handed in references from them, adding: "They are acutely aware he has been convicted of these offences. The references simply tell you the man as they knew him."
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon remanded Mooney on continuing bail to November 23 next for sentence.
