1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:07,280 S1: Dublin, 2016. A mother and father are accused of a 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:08,720 S1: crime against their daughter. 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,280 S2: Gardai began this investigation after a child was treated for 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,000 S2: serious injuries in a children's hospital last year. 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,280 S3: If you watch the CCTV when we brought her to 6 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:23,040 S3: the hospital, she wasn't crying. Nothing. Everything was normal. 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:27,400 S1: Having gone to hospital for help, they end up getting arrested. 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,880 S4: I cautioned her that she was not obliged to say 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,880 S4: anything unless she wished to do so. 10 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,080 S5: The man, who is 35, and the 25 year old 11 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,240 S5: woman appeared before the Dublin District Court following their arrest. 12 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,040 S1: What happens when you say the crimes you're charged with 13 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:41,720 S1: never happened? 14 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,160 S6: In a case like this, where the parents are consistently 15 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:51,320 S6: maintaining their innocence, that can make the parents start to 16 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,720 S6: look like they're just not cooperating. 17 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,920 S1: My name is Ruth Negga, and from October 8th, I'm 18 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,800 S1: going to begin telling you a story that will make 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:03,960 S1: you question everything. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,920 S7: For three years. This couple signed on twice weekly for 21 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,560 S7: Baal as their children remained under a two slick hair order. 22 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,800 S8: Even my friends who used to come to me, they run. 23 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,640 S8: If I call them, they don't answer the phone. 24 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,679 S1: And then the state puts you on trial. The first 25 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:20,560 S1: of its kind. 26 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,760 S8: As soon as I hear guilty, I know what it means. 27 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,520 S8: That's the worst thing in my life. 28 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,560 S1: And it feels like the whole world is against you. 29 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,959 S9: Sentencing the couple, Judge Elma Sheahan described the offence as 30 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,520 S9: the most egregious breach of trust. The judge sentenced the 31 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,039 S9: father to five and a half years in prison and 32 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,360 S9: his wife to four years and nine months. 33 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,000 S10: For the most part. They were confined to their cells 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,240 S10: 23 hours a day. 35 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,960 S1: Not long after being sent to prison. Covid arrives and 36 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:51,880 S1: makes everything even harder. 37 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,120 S10: If you're in a room 23 hours a day, it 38 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,559 S10: really brings you to the edge of your reason. 39 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,760 S1: But then, from inside their jail cells, this couple begin 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:07,400 S1: to fight back against the state. They eventually win their freedom. 41 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,040 S11: It seems to us that insofar as the appellant's trial 42 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,480 S11: was concerned, it must be regarded as having been unsafe 43 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:14,880 S11: and unsatisfactory. 44 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,040 S1: The state don't give up, though a retrial is held 45 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,239 S1: before the truth starts to become clearer. 46 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,680 S10: The leading medical experts on both sides of this case 47 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,320 S10: are now saying the crime didn't happen. The system got 48 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:27,919 S10: it wrong. 49 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,960 S1: So why are this couple still fighting for justice? 50 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,320 S12: Over the last 15 months, we've been recording this series 51 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,600 S12: and reaching out to everyone involved. 52 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,880 S13: It creates a situation where these groups and people from 53 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,240 S13: these communities are under constant suspicion. 54 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,200 S1: First conviction is a six part podcast series and a 55 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,320 S1: TV documentary that tells a story of our time. As 56 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:54,680 S1: in right now. 57 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,840 S14: If the system had worked, this would never have been prosecuted. 58 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:03,359 S1: From RTE documentary on One and RTE investigates First, conviction 59 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,870 S1: publishes weekly on podcast and radio from October 8th, followed 60 00:03:07,870 --> 00:03:10,790 S1: by a TV documentary on November 12th. 61 00:03:10,830 --> 00:03:13,910 S15: If you do have any knowledge or information on this story, 62 00:03:13,910 --> 00:03:16,950 S15: please contact us immediately and in confidence. 63 00:03:17,150 --> 00:03:23,070 S12: You can reach us by email. Documentaries or investigations at. 64 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:27,590 S3: They started on burdening us with questions. 65 00:03:28,070 --> 00:03:32,070 S1: Prepared to enter a story where nothing is as it seems. 66 00:03:32,110 --> 00:03:35,070 S3: Saying we don't believe the story of the injury to 67 00:03:35,110 --> 00:03:35,870 S3: our daughter. 68 00:03:36,390 --> 00:03:39,990 S1: First conviction will be available from wherever you listen. 69 00:03:39,990 --> 00:03:43,430 S8: Tell me if you're hiding anything. Tell the truth, I said. 70 00:03:43,430 --> 00:03:44,990 S8: I'm not hiding anything.