Sisters waive anonymity right to see tormentor jailed for abuse

Both Cathy and Caroline Brady declared their intention to be named after the accused changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on Tuesday.

Leo McFarland (57), with an address Oak Grove, Millfield, Buncrana, pleaded not guilty to 53 charges of indecent assault against Cathy and Caroline Brady at an earlier court sitting. He changed his plea and was re-arraigned on 11 charges.

The sexual assaults against the two sisters, who were friends of his daughters, took place over 30 years ago, between April 1983 and December 1985, at Farland’s former home at Convent Road, Carndonagh. The two families lived close by.

One sister was aged between five and seven and the other between seven and nine when the abuse took place, in incidents two to three times a week. It ended after the youngest girl told her mother, who told McFarland that the assaults would end. The visits stopped and the family of the accused moved away.

The sisters claimed some of the assaults involved playing a ‘sweet game’ with McFarland, who asked them to put their hands in his trouser pocket to find a sweet. His pocket would have a hole in it and the girls would touch his genitals. The youngest sisters said he would often give her sweets after he assaulted her.

Giving evidence at Letterkenny Circuit Court, the woman said she was in the same class at school as the daughter of the accused and they were best friends. Her older sister was best friends with another sister.