Liam Adams loses abuse conviction appeal

Liam Adams

Liam Adams, brother of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, has lost an appeal at the High Court in Belfast against his conviction and sentence for raping and abusing his daughter.

The 59-year-old was found guilty of a string of attacks on his daughter Aine Dahlstrom when she was aged between four and nine during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was handed a 16-year sentence in 2013, but sought to have his convictions overturned.

Delivering a reserved judgment, Lord Justice Patrick Coghlin said: “The court has not been persuaded that the verdict of the jury was unsafe and, consequently, the appeal must be dismissed.”

Judge Coghlin added: “In the circumstances, we are not persuaded that the learned trial judge erred in the exercise of her discretion and, accordingly, we reject this ground of appeal.”

Liam Adams, formerly of Bernagh Drive in west Belfast, was convicted of 10 offences against his daughter – three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.

He committed the crimes when he was left alone with his daughter, often sneaking into her room while she slept.

The abuse was committed over a five-year period between 1977 and 1981.

In later years he went on to work in a number of youth centres in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, including for a time in Dundalk.

Ms Dahlstrom, now in her early 40s, waived her right to anonymity.

Liam Adams’ convictions heaped pressure on Gerry Adams to explain why he did not alert the authorities to the abuse allegations when he initially learned of them.

The Sinn Féin leader has insisted he acted properly and accused political rivals of exploiting a family issue to attack him.

Dundalk man who raped 74-year-old aunt dies just weeks before his appeal

Christopher Ward

A Dundalk man jailed for raping his 74-year-old aunt has died from a heart attack, just weeks before his appeal was due to be heard.

52-year-old Christopher Ward, whose last address was in Birmingham in England, was convicted by the Central Criminal Court following an eight day trial 12 months ago of the rape and sexual assault of his aunt Kathleen Ward at her home in Dundalk on March 13 2011.

He was then sentenced last May to 14 years in prison by Mr Justice George Birmingham after Ms Ward waived her right to anonymity so that her nephew could be identified.

According to UTV Ireland, Ward was due to appeal his conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal in less than two weeks’ time.

However, his barrister, Michael O’Higgins SC, told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday that “regrettably Mr Ward had a heart attack on Friday and died”.

That in effect meant the matter will not proceed on that date, Mr O’Higgins said.

Mr Justice Birmingham, who was Ward’s trial judge and would therefore not have heard the appeal, said he was sorry to hear about the news of “Mr Ward’s demise”.

The appeal which was listed for hearing on Tuesday 18 April next will not now proceed.

Liam Adams appeal case adjourned in Belfast

Liam Adams was sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2013

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland has reserved judgment in a sex abuse case against Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Adams (59) was found guilty of a string of attacks on his daughter Áine Dahlstrom when she was aged between four and nine during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was given a 16-year sentence in 2013, but is seeking to have his convictions overturned.

Adjourning the case at Belfast’s Royal Courts of Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, Northern Ireland’s Lord Chief Justice, said: “We will make a judgment as soon as we can.”

Adams, formerly of Bearnagh Drive in west Belfast, was convicted of 10 offences against Ms Dahlstrom: three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.

The abuse was committed over a five-year period between 1977 and 1981. In later years he went on to work in a number of youth centres in the North and in the Republic.

A panel of senior judges – the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Justice Gillen and Lord Justice Coghlin – heard the appeal.

Defence barrister Eilis McDermott QC questioned the credibility of some evidence from Ms Dahlstrom’s mother, Sarah Campbell, in which she described holding her daughter all night after being told about the abuse.

Ms McDermott said: “It accords with the very dramatic account of events that were given on the UTV Insight programme that she had given to the police.”

The level of publicity surrounding the case was also highlighted.

“The circumstances of this case were unique,” Ms McDermott said. “The problem from the defence point of view is that the damage was done before the trial ever started.”

Ms Dahlstrom, now in her early 40s, has waived her right to anonymity. She was not in court for the appeal.

Source: The Irish Times

Liam Adams begins appeal against sentence for raping his daughter

Liam Adams was sentenced to 16 years in jail in November 2013

A lawyer for Liam Adams said that a judge was not sufficiently clear in giving her final direction to the jury which found Adams guilty of raping his daughter Aine.

Eilis McDermott, QC, in appealing the conviction of 60-year-old Liam Adams, also said the fact that Adams is the brother of the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams made the case a “national issue”.

Ms McDermott yesterday outlined her case on behalf of Liam Adams, who is originally from Bernagh Drive, west Belfast, but lived for a number of years in Dundalk. Adams himself appeared in the dock wearing a red check shirt.

In November 2013 at Belfast Crown Court Judge Corinne Philpott sentenced Liam Adams to 16-years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter Aine between the ages of four and nine. The offences occurred between 1977 and 1983, when Adams was aged between 22 and 26.

In October 2013, a jury of nine men and three women, by an 11 to 1 majority, found Adams guilty of all 10 charges against him – including three counts of rape, three of gross indecency and four of indecent assault.

In presenting her appeal, Ms McDermott referred to how there was “extensive publicity” surrounding two cases against Liam Adams in 2013 – the first in April which collapsed over an issue of disclosure and the second beginning in September which resulted in Adams’s conviction.

Ms McDermott told the Belfast Court of Appeal that there was not a sufficient “fade factor” between the aborted case and the second trial and that it was not possible for jurors in the second trial not to be aware of the original case.

Ms McDermott also referred to how there was extensive reporting of how Gerry Adams gave evidence in the collapsed trial even though he was not called to give evidence in the second case.

Ms McDermott referred to how, in 2009, UTV’s Insight did a programme detailing Aine Adams’s allegations against her father and how it became a “national issue” due to the Gerry Adams link.

She also referred to Gerry Adams’s disclosure on RTÉ that some members of his family were sexually abused by his father, also called Gerry.

Ms McDermott said that, as a result, “it is not a case where the fade factor would be effective”.

The lawyer said that Judge Philpott did not deal with the issue of publicity other than by the “standard form” of telling the jury not to read about the case or discuss it with anyone other than fellow jurors.

Ms McDermott said there was also a concern about the “clarity” of the final direction given to the jury by Judge Philpott. She said that certain aspects of her direction were “opaque”, “difficult for the jury to follow” and came “nowhere near the careful direction” that the jury required.

The lawyer said that there was “concern about the clarity of direction” of where the burden of proof rested in the case.

Ms McDermott also said that two weeks ago she received documentation from the Public Prosecution Service that was not disclosed in the two trials.

This showed that Gerry Adams was in contact about the abuse with his solicitor in February 2007 rather than in June 2006 as initially disclosed. Ms McDermott said had she known this earlier the “material certainly would have been used in cross-examination”.

Source: The Irish Times

Gardaí preparing file on two IRA rape claims in Co Louth

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary earlier this week

Gardaí have confirmed that a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to the alleged sexual assault of two males in Co Louth in the 1990s.

One of the complainants is 40-year-old Paudie McGahon, from Ardee, who has alleged that he was raped by an IRA man when he was 17.

His allegations were reported on the BBC Spotlight programme on Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon, Chief Superintendent Pat McGee confirmed to RTÉ News that “the investigation is ongoing and a file will be sent to the DPP in due course”.

Mr McGahon and another man allege the offences took place at an identified location in Co Louth.

Complaints were made to gardaí in Drogheda towards the end of last year.

Meanwhile, Mr McGahon has said nobody should be afraid of coming forward if they had been abused at the hands of the IRA.

Mr McGahon said there is now a network there to support people and his experience since the BBC programme has been “support, support, support”.

Mr McGahon, speaking to Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s Liveline, said that no member of the Republican movement suggested he should go to gardaí until after his meeting with then Sinn Féin TD for Louth Arthur Morgan in 2009.

He described a letter that Mr Morgan sent to him after the meeting suggesting that he should go to gardaí as a red herring.

He said that Mr Morgan did not say to him during the 2009 meeting that he would drive him to a garda station.

He said that as far the Republican movement was concerned the issue of the abuse “was sorted” in 2002.

He said he was told in 2009 that the man who had abused him was then living in Blackrock, just outside Dundalk.

Gerry Adams

Yesterday evening local TD and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said that he did not go to gardaí in 2009 with information about Mr McGahon’s claims, because he did not have the detail of the case.

Mr Adams told RTÉ’s Six One News that he did not try to establish the detail of the case because it is not the responsibility of Sinn Féin to investigate historical abuse cases.

However, a Sinn Féin spokesman said tonight Mr Adams had become aware of concerns about the activities of the alleged abuser in the McGahon case and had furnished his name to gardaí last November.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Meath East TD Regina Doherty said questions needed to be answered about how the IRA got involved in investigating the allegations made by Mr McGahon, which were brought to the attention of Sinn Féin Councillor Pearse McGeough in 2002.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke yesterday, she said Mr McGeough needed to answer how the “kangaroo court” came to be and if he had any involvement in it.

Ms Doherty said she would like to know, during the course of the conversations between Mr McGahon and Cllr McGeough, how the IRA became involved and how personnel from the North were brought down to Mr McGahon’s father’s house so the young man could be summonsed to answer questions.

She also called on Mr Adams to acknowledge and admit that kangaroo courts were “part of the normal practice and play of Sinn Féin/IRA at the time in dealing with these situations as they arose”.

Cllr Pearse McGeough

Cllr McGeough issued a statement yesterday saying that he advised Mr McGahon and another person who told him they had been abused to go to gardaí.

He said that he offered to go with them.

“They decided at the time not to notify the gardaí. I fully recognise that going to the authorities is huge step for victims and this was their decision to make. I fully respected that view,” Mr McGeough said.

He added: “I am aware that my colleague and former TD Arthur Morgan also reiterated this position in person and in writing to Mr McGahon, a position that I fully supported.

“On one occasion with the agreement of one of the victims I personally arranged to accompany him to the Garda station to make a complaint.

“However shortly before the meeting the victim of the alleged abuse decided not to go ahead at that time.”

Meanwhile, former Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan released a letter he says he sent in 2009 to Mr McGahon.

In the letter dated April 27th, 2009, Mr Morgan, who represented Louth until 2011, said he hoped Mr McGahon would contact An Garda Síochána about his allegations.

“Thank you for your representations in respect of allegations of sex abuse at your former home,” the letter states.

“I would like to confirm my strong advice to you to make a formal complaint to the gardaí about these allegations. They are the competent authority to investigate these matters and, if a case can be constructed, to bring it before the courts.”

Mr Morgan wrote in the letter, on Dáil notepaper, that such a complaint to the gardaí would also trigger the involvement of Social Services, as well as other services of the Health Services Executive.

“Again, I wish to assure you of my full support and that of my colleague, Councillor Pearse McGeough at all times, including accompanying you to the gardaí if that would be helpful,” he said.

“Hoping you will follow this course and that these matters can be dealt with appropriately.”

Adams insists he believes McGahon’s IRA rape claims

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary

Sinn Féin president and local TD Gerry Adams has said he believes claims made by Paudie McGahon on BBC Sportlight last night that he was raped at his family home in Ardee by a senior IRA member.

Mr Adams told RTE’s Morning Ireland that his alleged perpetrator should come forward.

Mr McGahon was 17 when the alleged assault took place.

Mr Adams said he only found out about the incident in 2009 when he was told by then Sinn Féin TD for Louth, Arthur Morgan.

In a statement yesterday, Deputy Adams said that Sinn Féin’s priority is to support victims of abuse whether that abuse is historical or contemporary and that the party will support victims in their efforts to get truth and justice.

He said “Sinn Féin has rigorous child protection guidelines. At all times the Sinn Féin representatives seek to support the victims of alleged abuse.

“We believe that all victims of abuse should be supported to access the justice system and social services and that the most appropriate bodies to deal with these allegations are the Gardaí and social services.

Gerry Adams insists he believes McGahon’s claims and added they are “a matter of deep regret”

“I have previously acknowledged that the actions of republicans in the past in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse were inadequate and inappropriate.

“Paudie McGahon clearly feels badly let down.

“Nothing that I may say will change this but it is a matter of deep regret to me.

“I hope that justice is served and support delivered to Mr McGahon.

“Sinn Féin’s priority is to support victims of abuse whether that abuse is historical or contemporary and we will support victims in their efforts to get truth and justice.

“There is a currently a Garda investigation into these allegations.

“That is why when this case was brought to the attention of local representatives I am assured that the victims of the alleged abuse were advised in person and writing to go to An Garda Síochána.

“Martin McGuinness has proposed a victim-centred approach to deal with the issue of abuse; an approach that would provide support to victims and access to the justice system.

“This would be anchored in the North South Ministerial council and allow victims to come forward to access support and those with information to pass it to the Gardaí or PSNI for investigation.”

Paudie McGahon spoke to the BBC’s Spotlight programme last night and criticised how republicans had dealt with his case.

He told the programme he had grown up in a strongly republican household.

Mr McGahon said IRA members would use his family home often as a safe house.

He alleges that when he was 17, an IRA man, from a well-known republican family in Belfast, abused him and then threatened him to remain silent.

Mr McGahon told BBC Spotlight he was later subjected to an IRA “kangaroo court” after a Sinn Féin representative, County Councilllor Pearse McGeough, was told of the allegations.

He said the IRA offered to kill the alleged rapist but instead exiled him.

Recalling his experiences, Mr McGahon told the programme that when he tried to escape from his alleged rapist he was told if he ever opened his mouth about it anybody he would be found on the border roads.

He said he felt he could not report the matter to Irish police because of the threats he had received.

Mr McGahon said that for years, he told no-one about what had happened.

Louth man alleges Sinn Féin and IRA covered up his rape as a teenager

A Louth man will appear on BBC’s Spotlight programme tonight claiming he was raped by a well known IRA volunteer as a teenager.

Paudie McGahon (40), who now lives in Ardee, told the programme he was subjected to an IRA “kangaroo court” after a Sinn Féin representative was told of the allegations.

He said the IRA offered to shoot the alleged rapist before exiling him.

It follows similar allegations made to the programme by Belfast woman Maíria Cahill last year.

He said he was raped at his family home in the 1990s when it was allegedly being used as a safe house. Afterwards he said his abuser threatened him with being killed if he told anyone what had happened.

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary

The father of three finally broke his silence in 2002 and claims that after he told him about the abuse, Louth Sinn Féin councillor Pearse McGeough invited him and another victim before a “kangaroo court”. He says that despite claims that party representatives offered to bring him to the police, deliberate efforts were made to ‘discourage’ him from reporting his abuse to the gardaí.

He claims that following the hearing a senior IRA member in Louth warned that if he went to the media or gardaí he would be found dead on a back road.

In his BBC Spotlight interview, Mr McGahon raises serious questions about how republicans have dealt with allegations of sexual abuse, and what that means for potential victims.

The show will air tonight on BBC One NI at 10.45pm. Check out a preview above.

Adams says there is “no possibility” of him resigning over Maíria Cahill controversy

Gerry Adams

Sinn Féin president and local TD Gerry Adams has said there is “no possibility” of him resigning as party leader over the Maíria Cahill controversy.

He said Ms Cahill had “put words into my mouth” and said he did not know when asked if he believed she had been forced to face her alleged rapist in a Republican-style court.

“There is no possibility of me resigning on this issue. I have a responsibility to those who elected me. I have a mandate. I have behaved at all times properly and with propriety and I will continue to do so,” he said.

He also said he believed Ms Cahill had been abused.

“But Maíria Cahill put words into my mouth that I never said and said things about me which are incorrect, and that’s been repeated and embellished and added to by others for party political advantage,”he said.

“These type of smears against me without any substance whatsoever or against the party of Sinn Féin, a proud party which makes mistakes of course we do and we’re not perfect, but any suggestion or innuendo or indeed assertion that I or the party which I’m very proud to be a part of was involved in any cover up whatsoever is entirely wrong.

Asked on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland where the IRA had expelled alleged sex offenders to, he replied he did not know.

He said he had acknowledged it was a mistake for the IRA to attempt to deal with alleged sex offenders.

IRA members had “good intentions” but were “ill-equipped” to deal with such matters.

He accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin of engaging in “theatrics” and setting aside due process.

If they had information about sex offenders in Louth, Donegal and Dublin they should approach the gardaí, said Mr Adams. He said Sinn Féin has been arguing for some time for an all-Ireland sex offenders register.

Later, Mr Martin accused Mr Adams of being “in denial”. The Fianna Fáil leader said Mr Adams should listen to Ms Cahill’s story, and accept and acknowledge it.

Mr Martin said Mr Adams had “set the tone” for Sinn Féin’s reaction to the controversy. “He goes into victim mode.”

He said it was not good enough for Mr Adams to say alleged abusers were expelled from the North but he did not know their locations.

Ms Cahill (33), claims she was raped by a suspected IRA member when she was a teenager in 1997.

The alleged rape of Ms Cahill and the alleged subsequent IRA cover-up are to be reviewed by a top human rights lawyer.

Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions for England and Wales has been appointed to look again at all aspects of the prosecutions related to Ms Cahill’s case.

Pressure remains on Adams over Maíria Cahill case

Gerry Adams

Pressure on Sinn Féin leader and local TD Gerry Adams over the Maíria Cahill controversy shows no sign of abating with the Dáil now set to debate her allegations.

Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe said the Dáil will debate the case on 4 or 5 November.

Earlier, Taoiseach Enda Kenny met Ms Cahill for 90 minutes in Government Buildings.

He said he would facilitate “a comprehensive debate on the matter” and predicted that the allegations made by Ms Cahill would have serious consequences.

Ms Cahill claims she was raped as a teenager in 1997 by a member of the IRA and later interrogated by the organisation.

The Cahill allegations led to heated exchanges during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil.

Mr Kenny said Ms Cahill was a courageous, confident and brave young woman who is a force to be reckoned with.

He said: “Her control was taken from her. She never ceded her own power and it’s that power and sense for truth that brought her to Government Buildings this morning.”

Mr Kenny said it was “reprehensible” that Ms Cahill “could be kicked about deliberately”.

He suggested that Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams could confirm that Ms Cahill had to meet the IRA about the matter.

Mr Kenny asked if Mr Adams was aware of any people moved to “this jurisdiction” – Donegal or Louth – who were involved in sexual abuse of women in the North and who were still in the Republic.

“You might indicate if you know anything about that because the story Maíria Cahill has to tell is not just powerful, but it will have serious consequences,” he said.

The Taoiseach said he found it unbelievable Mr Adams would come into the house of parliament and say that the person who abused Ms Cahill was a decent person.

However, Mr Adams said that he had not said that.

The Sinn Féin president this evening reiterated his rejection of allegations made against him by Mr Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

“I want once again to reject in the strongest possible terms, entirely malicious and spurious allegations by the Taoiseach and the Fianna Fáil  leader that I have any information regarding abusers being moved from the North, across border to this jurisdiction or anywhere else.

“If anyone – and that includes Mr Kenny or Mr Martin – have information regarding the whereabouts of anyone who is a potential threat to members of the community, they should make that information known to An Garda Síochána.”

Earlier, the Sinn Féin leader said the IRA had failed the victims of sex offenders and he wanted to apologise to those victims.

Cahill calls for Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams to “tell the truth” over rape claims

Maíria Cahill

Maíria Cahill has said that she wants Sinn Féin to tell the truth and claims the party is re-traumatising her following her rape claims.

Ms Cahill alleges that she was abused by a member of the Provisional IRA and that the republican movement knew of the abuse.

Ms Cahill later went to the police. A case was brought against the alleged rapist and those said to have been involved in the IRA inquiry.

All charges were dropped after Ms Cahill withdrew her evidence.

Speaking today on RTÉ’s News at One, she said that what the party has done is to try to attack her credibility.

Ms Cahill said she is appalled that Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is denying any knowledge of the IRA interrogation or discussing the rape allegation in detail with her.

She said that during her meeting with Mr Adams, he was aware of who her abuser was and he conceded that he knew him.

“What I want is for Sinn Féin to tell the truth. It is as simple as that,” she said.

“Sinn Féin are completely re-traumatising me again and again and again, and I actually think that’s quite disgusting for someone who has already suffered severe trauma at the hands of the republican movement.

“I want them to tell the truth. I want Gerry Adams to stand up and say ‘yes she is telling the truth’.”

Mr Adams said yesterday that he was “personally horrified” that certain remarks were attributed to him by Ms Cahill and he denied making those remarks.

Meanwhile, the Louth TD has had a complaint he made about an article in The Irish Independent last May upheld by The Press Ombudsman. The article in question was found to have breached Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it had knowingly published matter about the complainant based on an unfounded accusation.

Mr Adams complained, through his solicitors, about a statement in the article that read: “In recent days Mr Adams has issued a legal letter to the Irish Independent, attempting to silence our reporting on another investigation.”

His solicitors complained that the letter in question was a formal letter of complaint to the editor of the paper made in accordance with the complaints procedures of the Office of the Press Ombudsman about a previous article.