{"id":502101,"date":"2026-06-16T07:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/502101\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T07:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:30:10","slug":"charlene-masterson-suing-convicted-sex-offender-father-over-abuse-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/502101\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlene Masterson suing convicted sex offender father over abuse \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who was sexually abused by her father over a seven-year period is suing him in the High Court<\/a> over the abuse. <\/p>\n

David Masterson pleaded guilty in 2021 to six offences relating to sexual abuse perpetrated against his daughter Charlene Masterson. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. <\/p>\n

In January, Charlene Masterson initiated a lawsuit seeking damages for personal injuries, \u201ccaused by reason of the trespass of [David Masterson] on [Charlene Masterson\u2019s] person (to include sexual assault, rape, battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional suffering)\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a sworn statement to the court, Charlene Masterson\u2019s solicitor Patrick Coleman states that David Masterson, formerly of Tallaght, west Dublin<\/a>, was served with the proceedings at Midlands Prison in Portlaoise shortly after the case was initiated. <\/p>\n

Coleman states that a warning letter was sent to Masterson in March threatening to seek judgment against him in the case, in circumstances where he had not entered an appearance. <\/p>\n

In High Court actions, a defendant must file an appearance within a set time period if they intend to defend the action. <\/p>\n

In April, the Legal Aid Board<\/a> indicated to Charlene Masterson\u2019s solicitors that David Masterson was seeking the board\u2019s assistance in procuring legal representation. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, in circumstances where David Masterson was yet to enter an appearance in the case, Charlene Masterson\u2019s lawyers moved to obtain judgment against him in default of appearance. <\/p>\n

When the application came before Judge Emily Egan on Monday, lawyers for David Masterson told the court that the failure to enter appearance arose from delays in securing legal aid. Masterson was granted a legal aid certificate in May, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Barrister Alannah McGurk, for Charlene Masterson and instructed by Coleman Legal, told the judge she was not objecting to David Masterson formally entering an appearance in the case. <\/p>\n

However, counsel said she was seeking an \u201cunless order\u201d mandating the entering of an appearance within a set time limit. McGurk said she was also seeking an order for her client\u2019s legal costs incurred in the application for judgment in default of appearance. <\/p>\n

Counsel for David Masterson asked that no order be made in respect of legal costs, and opposed the making of the \u201cunless order\u201d, asking instead that the time for filing an appearance be extended for one further week.<\/p>\n

The judge said that while she appreciated that the issuing of a certificate for legal aid \u201ctakes time\u201d, David Masterson himself could have entered an appearance in the interim.<\/p>\n

The judge made an \u201cunless order\u201d directing David Masterson to enter an appearance within eight weeks. She made an order for Charlene Masterson\u2019s legal costs in the default judgment motion, and placed a stay on that order pending the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who was sexually abused by her father over a seven-year period is suing him in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,73,61,60,214795,43],"class_list":["post-502101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-legal-aid-board","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}