Liam Adams appeal case adjourned in Belfast

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland has reserved judgment in a sex abuse case against Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Adams (59) was found guilty of a string of attacks on his daughter Áine Dahlstrom when she was aged between four and nine during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was given a 16-year sentence in 2013, but is seeking to have his convictions overturned.

Offences

Adjourning the case at Belfast’s Royal Courts of Justice, Sir

Declan Morgan

, Northern Ireland’s Lord Chief Justice, said: “We will make a judgment as soon as we can.”

Adams, formerly of Bearnagh Drive in west Belfast, was convicted of 10 offences against Ms Dahlstrom: three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.

The abuse was committed over a five-year period between 1977 and 1981. In later years he went on to work in a number of youth centres in the North and in the Republic.

A panel of senior judges – the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Justice Gillen and Lord Justice Coghlin – heard the appeal.

Defence barrister Eilis McDermott QC questioned the credibility of some evidence from Ms Dahlstrom’s mother, Sarah Campbell, in which she described holding her daughter all night after being told about the abuse.

Ms McDermott said: "It accords with the very dramatic account of events that were given on the UTV Insight programme that she had given to the police."

Publicity

The level of publicity surrounding the case was also highlighted.

“The circumstances of this case were unique,” Ms McDermott said. “The problem from the defence point of view is that the damage was done before the trial ever started.”

Ms Dahlstrom, now in her early 40s, has waived her right to anonymity. She was not in court for the appeal.