Child sex abuse survivor gives up privacy to highlight claims

By Cormac O?Keeffe
A SURVIVOR of child sexual abuse gave details of her case in a bid to highlight what she claims is the failure of the State to protect children and prosecute abusers.

Alice McDermott said she decided to forego her privacy after she received a letter last month from the Director of Public Prosecutions rejecting claims she made about the office.

She claimed her abuser was informed ? before she was ? of the decision not to prosecute. The DPP has rejected the claim.

Ms McDermott, who set up a lobby group called 19+1, disclosed she was sexually abused as a child.

In 2002, almost 30 years after the abuse ended, she lodged a complaint with garda?. She reportedly learnt soon after her abuser had access to children through his wife because of her work.

Ms McDermott has shown the Irish Examiner the evidence submitted by garda? to the DPP.

She believes there is enough evidence to get her case to court. The evidence includes:

a signed statement from 1972 in which her mother accuses the abuser of assaulting her daughter.

a signed statement in 2003 from her mother that tends to support claims of sexual abuse.

Ms McDermott made available documents from 1972 and 1974, when she was diagnosed as having diabetes and treated for a range of symptoms. These documents record:

comments from her mother that her daughter suffered vaginal bleeding and this was not due to menstruation.

comments from her mother that her daughter should not have any future associations with a person, identified by the doctor with an initial. Ms McDermott claims the doctor told a garda in 2003 the identity of the person.

the symptoms she suffered during those years, including severe headaches, paleness of colour, dizziness, weakness and urinary problems.

Ms McDermott said medical advice given to her suggest the notes indicate the symptoms may have been due to urinary tract infections.

While diabetes can cause such symptoms, urinary tract infections in children can be the result of sexual activity.

?My mother?s statement corroborates my claim that X sexually abused me, while the medical evidence suggests at least the strong likelihood that I was being raped by X throughout the previous years,? said Ms McDermott.

Her lobby group 19+1 comes from a statistic, compiled by rape crisis centres, that only one of 20 cases reported to garda? results in a prosecution.