{"id":550170,"date":"2026-07-15T01:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/550170\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:44:13","slug":"woman-sexually-assaulted-as-a-child-by-uncle-sues-for-damages-in-high-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/550170\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman sexually assaulted as a child by uncle sues for damages in High Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Grace Odumosu from Kimmage, Dublin has sued Caffrey, her uncle, of Grove Road, Harold\u2019s Cross, Rathmines, Dublin, stating that between the ages of nine and 13 years old she had been wrongfully and intentionally subjected to sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

The abuse occurred at Caffrey\u2019s house in his daughter\u2019s bedroom or the kitchen when he lured the child in on the pretext of assisting him.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Caffrey was jailed for a total of three years for sexually assaults, including of Grace Odumosu.<\/p>\n

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court at the time heard Patrick Caffrey, 55, engaged in \u201cpersistent, nasty and insidious\u201d offending over 12 years.<\/p>\n

He had pleaded guilty to 22 charges of sexual assault on his nieces between December 1991 and December 2003.<\/p>\n

In the proceedings before the High Court it is claimed that Odumosu\u2019s constitutional rights to bodily integrity had been breached and Caffrey, Odumosu\u2019s uncle by marriage had exploited or abused his dominant position.<\/p>\n

He had also, it is claimed, concealed his behaviour so he was able to perpetrate the abuse on an ongoing basis.<\/p>\n

Odumosu felt she was groomed and the abuse changed her life, turned her life upside down and removed her confidence, it is claimed.<\/p>\n

Her counsel Barney Quirke, instructed by Harrington Solicitors, told the court that judgment had already been obtained in default of defence.<\/p>\n

Counsel told the court that Odumosu, when she was nine years of age, had been staying in the \u201ctrusted home of her aunt and uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The abuse included kissing and touching and took place in the bedroom, kitchen and sometimes outside.<\/p>\n

Quirke submitted Odumosu was entitled to aggravated damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no apology of any kind. He had not done anything to ameliorate the pain and that is an aggravating feature,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

“There has been stone cold silence, no apology,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In evidence, Odumosu told the court that her aunt\u2019s house was supposed to be a safe place and her aunt was like a second mother to her.<\/p>\n

The abuse started in Caffrey\u2019s daughter\u2019s bedroom when he touched her, but her cousin would not have seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened so often; it felt like it was always happening, over 100 times over the years,\u201d she told Judge Paul Coffey.<\/p>\n

She said her first kiss was from Caffrey. \u201cIt made me feel gross. That was my first kiss,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

She said while her uncle pleaded guilty on the morning of the trial, \u201dto this day, there is no real acceptance of his guilt and no apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Salthill<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Salthill promenade shop says nearby competing kiosk is hitting frozen fruit tub sales<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Caffrey\u2019s guilty plea, she said, had felt \u201cso fake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe won\u2019t apologise; he won\u2019t show remorse. There is a consistent keeping us in pain,\u201d she told the judge.<\/p>\n

Judge Paul Coffey will give his decision later.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who was sexually assaulted by her uncle over a four-year period when she was a child…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-550170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550170","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=550170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}