The trial of a 69-year-old Co. Galway pensioner who is charged with sexually abusing two sisters in the 1980s opened before a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday (Tuesday).

The man, who may not be named for legal reasons, denies 27 charges of indecently assaulting a ten-year-old girl on 25 occasions and her nine- year-old sister on two occasions over an 18-month period from April 1987 to June 1989.

The jury of five women and seven men heard the sister's parents and the accused and his wife were very good friends and that he regularly brought the older child with him for "spins" in his car. She told the court that, as a ten year old, she was delighted with the attention the accused lavished on her, and he regularly bought her sweets.

She said the abuse first started in early 1987 and that it went on for 18 months, mostly in the man's car, until she finally told him she would tell her parents. She said he gave her £60 and told her not to tell. She said she was shocked, as £60 in those days was a lot of money.

The younger sister, who is now 30, told the jury the accused brought her to a swimming lesson when she was nine years old in July 1987, and indecently assaulted her in his car on the way to and from the lesson. She said she had felt very upset and when she got home she buried her underwear under a rock at the rear of the house.

Mr Martin Giblin, SC, in cross-examination, put it to the sisters that they made the allegations of abuse after blaming the accused for the break-up of their parent's marriage.

Mr Giblin said there had been rumours that the sister's mother had been having an affair with his client and he asked them if they felt those rumours had led to the destruction of their parent's marriage. The women said they had heard the rumours at the time. The older sister said she blamed the accused for what he did to her but didn't blame him for the break-up of her parent's marriage. The trial is expected to last two more days.

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