Children of murdered IRA man were sexually abused by 'monster' relative after fleeing to Galway, court told

Two children of an Official IRA commander who fled Belfast to live with relatives in Galway following his murder ended up being sexually abused by one of them, a court has heard.

Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard that Áine and Nuala McCann’s father Joe McCann was murdered by British soldiers in 1972 in Belfast and that in 1981, after years of harassment from the British Army, RUC and Provisional IRA, his widow Anne took her six children to live with her sister’s family near Gort in south Co Galway.

Nuala McCann told Judge Brian O’Callaghan that what should have been a safe sanctuary for the children and their mother ended up being a nightmare after they were abused by Francis McCann, who was married to their aunt Mary but was not related to their father although they shared the same surname.

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Francis McCann, a 79-year old from Lough Cutra Drive, Inchaboy, Gort, described in court as an artist, musician and general handyman, initially denied two charges of indecently assaulting Áine and Nuala McCann but in March this year, six years after the Garda investigation began, McCann pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.

The court heard that the sisters were both born in the same year, Áine in January 1969 and Nuala in December later that year in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast.

Their father Joe McCann was 24 when he was shot dead by British soldiers as he fled when a police officer tried to arrest him in the Markets area of Belfast in 1972.

The trial of two former paratroopers went on trial for his murder but were acquitted in 2021 after the case collapsed because key statements were ruled inadmissible.

The family moved to Galway after years of harassment from the British Army, RUC and the PIRA but after moving in with their aunt Mary and her two children in Gort, her husband Francis abused two of the children when they were aged around 11 and 12.

“It is an awful thing to say that we would have been safer on the streets of Belfast where children were getting shot dead every other day, than to have lived in the perpetrator’s home in Lough Cutra Drive,” said Áine McCann in a victim impact statement.,

“We were meant to be in a safer place away from tragic events befalling children on the streets of Belfast at that time. I should have had an opportunity to decompress from the war zone that was Belfast in 1981.

“Instead, I was taken advantage of and my burden added to. I have had to carry this burden and its negative effects my entire life, to date that is some 43 years,” she said.

The court heard that the abuses took place in the family home. Nuala McCann said she was abused by McCann while his son was lying on the other side of him in bed. On another occasion the abuse happened on a sofa.

Áine McCann said she was abused by McCann while his wife and others were in the same room watching television.

Both sisters told the court they thought it was only happening to them and now feel guilty for not speaking out as it may have saved the other.

They said that their mother had done her utmost after the murder of their father to give them a normal upbringing and had moved to Galway to be in a safer place.

“Mr McCann and his wife, my mother’s sister, were wolves in sheep’s clothing,” said Nuala McCann in her victim impact statement. “His actions can’t be undone. All we can do is keep trying to heal from this and hope that one day we can all be a happy family again. Like we were before we moved to Galway to live with this monster. For that is what he is.

“He had no regard for the devastation he was creating. He had no respect for my mother who was struggling so hard just to stay going and build a better life for us after losing her husband at age 24.

“I cannot begin to imagine the pain she is in. Trusting in family to provide safety and security from a life of trauma and grief, only to be used and have her children sexually assaulted by the family she believed would provide that safety.

“This man took advantage of a traumatised mother’s situation and I find that disgusting and unforgivable,” said Nuala McCann.

Judge O’Callaghan, in a lengthy address where he outlined the parameters involved in an historical sentencing, praised and thanked the two sisters for their victim impact statements. He also praised the work of Detective Sergeant John Keating of Gort Garda Station who had led the investigation for over six years.

Judge O’Callaghan heard a submission from defence counsel Bernard Madden who outlined that McCann was the main carer for his wife, he had no previous convictions, was 79 and had pleaded guilty on the second day of the trial.

Judge O’Callaghan, who outlined that the maximum sentence in each of the two convictions was two years, said the breach of trust by an adult in McCann’s position was ‘egregious’. He said McCann’s actions were ‘not spur of the moment, but planned and premeditated and carried out in a home where they came for security and shelter.’

He sentenced McCann to 14 months imprisonment in relation to one of the indecent assault charges and eight months to the other, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Afterwards, the McCann sisters said they were pleased it was all over and now want to get on with their lives.

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