Woman sexually assaulted as a child by uncle sues for damages in High Court

High Court Reporter

A woman who was sexually assaulted by her uncle over a four-year period when she was a child has sued him in the High Court.

Grace Odumosu told the court that her uncle Patrick Caffrey kissed and touched her starting when she was nine years old, and it happened over one hundred times.

Grace Odumosu from Kimmage, Dublin has sued Caffrey, her uncle, of Grove Road, Harold’s Cross, Rathmines, Dublin, stating that between the ages of nine and 13 years old she had been wrongfully and intentionally subjected to sexual abuse.

The abuse occurred at Caffrey’s house in his daughter’s bedroom or the kitchen when he lured the child in on the pretext of assisting him.

In 2021, Caffrey was jailed for a total of three years for sexually assaults, including of Grace Odumosu.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court at the time heard Patrick Caffrey, 55, engaged in “persistent, nasty and insidious” offending over 12 years.

He had pleaded guilty to 22 charges of sexual assault on his nieces between December 1991 and December 2003.

In the proceedings before the High Court it is claimed that Odumosu’s constitutional rights to bodily integrity had been breached and Caffrey, Odumosu’s uncle by marriage had exploited or abused his dominant position.

He had also, it is claimed, concealed his behaviour so he was able to perpetrate the abuse on an ongoing basis.

Odumosu felt she was groomed and the abuse changed her life, turned her life upside down and removed her confidence, it is claimed.

Her counsel Barney Quirke, instructed by Harrington Solicitors, told the court that judgment had already been obtained in default of defence.

Counsel told the court that Odumosu, when she was nine years of age, had been staying in the “trusted home of her aunt and uncle.”

The abuse included kissing and touching and took place in the bedroom, kitchen and sometimes outside.

Quirke submitted Odumosu was entitled to aggravated damages.

“There was no apology of any kind. He had not done anything to ameliorate the pain and that is an aggravating feature,” counsel said.

"There has been stone cold silence, no apology,” he added.

In evidence, Odumosu told the court that her aunt’s house was supposed to be a safe place and her aunt was like a second mother to her.

The abuse started in Caffrey’s daughter’s bedroom when he touched her, but her cousin would not have seen.

“It happened so often; it felt like it was always happening, over 100 times over the years,” she told Judge Paul Coffey.

She said her first kiss was from Caffrey. “It made me feel gross. That was my first kiss,’ she said.

She said while her uncle pleaded guilty on the morning of the trial, ”to this day, there is no real acceptance of his guilt and no apology.”

Caffrey’s guilty plea, she said, had felt “so fake.”

“He won’t apologise; he won’t show remorse. There is a consistent keeping us in pain,” she told the judge.

Judge Paul Coffey will give his decision later.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.