WEBVTT - First Conviction: Trailer 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:07.280 Dublin, 2016. A mother and father are accused of a 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:08.720 crime against their daughter. 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.280 Gardai began this investigation after a child was treated for 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.000 serious injuries in a children's hospital last year. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.280 If you watch the CCTV when we brought her to 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:23.040 the hospital, she wasn't crying. Nothing. Everything was normal. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.400 Having gone to hospital for help, they end up getting arrested. 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.880 I cautioned her that she was not obliged to say 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:31.880 anything unless she wished to do so. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.080 The man, who is 35, and the 25 year old 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.240 woman appeared before the Dublin District Court following their arrest. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.040 What happens when you say the crimes you're charged with 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:41.720 never happened? 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.160 In a case like this, where the parents are consistently 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:51.320 maintaining their innocence, that can make the parents start to 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.720 look like they're just not cooperating. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.920 My name is Ruth Negga, and from October 8th, I'm 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.800 going to begin telling you a story that will make 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:03.960 you question everything. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.920 For three years. This couple signed on twice weekly for 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.560 Baal as their children remained under a two slick hair order. 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.800 Even my friends who used to come to me, they run. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.640 If I call them, they don't answer the phone. 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.679 And then the state puts you on trial. The first 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:20.560 of its kind. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.760 As soon as I hear guilty, I know what it means. 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.520 That's the worst thing in my life. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.560 And it feels like the whole world is against you. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.959 Sentencing the couple, Judge Elma Sheahan described the offence as 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.520 the most egregious breach of trust. The judge sentenced the 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.039 father to five and a half years in prison and 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.360 his wife to four years and nine months. 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.000 For the most part. They were confined to their cells 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:46.240 23 hours a day. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.960 Not long after being sent to prison. Covid arrives and 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:51.880 makes everything even harder. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.120 If you're in a room 23 hours a day, it 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:57.559 really brings you to the edge of your reason. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.760 But then, from inside their jail cells, this couple begin 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:07.400 to fight back against the state. They eventually win their freedom. 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.040 It seems to us that insofar as the appellant's trial 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.480 was concerned, it must be regarded as having been unsafe 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:14.880 and unsatisfactory. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.040 The state don't give up, though a retrial is held 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.239 before the truth starts to become clearer. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.680 The leading medical experts on both sides of this case 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.320 are now saying the crime didn't happen. The system got 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:27.919 it wrong. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.960 So why are this couple still fighting for justice? 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.320 Over the last 15 months, we've been recording this series 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.600 and reaching out to everyone involved. 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.880 It creates a situation where these groups and people from 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.240 these communities are under constant suspicion. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.200 First conviction is a six part podcast series and a 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.320 TV documentary that tells a story of our time. As 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:54.680 in right now. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.840 If the system had worked, this would never have been prosecuted. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.359 From RTE documentary on One and RTE investigates First, conviction 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.870 publishes weekly on podcast and radio from October 8th, followed 0:03:07.870 --> 0:03:10.790 by a TV documentary on November 12th. 0:03:10.830 --> 0:03:13.910 If you do have any knowledge or information on this story, 0:03:13.910 --> 0:03:16.950 please contact us immediately and in confidence. 0:03:17.150 --> 0:03:23.070 You can reach us by email. Documentaries or investigations at. 0:03:24.750 --> 0:03:27.590 They started on burdening us with questions. 0:03:28.070 --> 0:03:32.070 Prepared to enter a story where nothing is as it seems. 0:03:32.110 --> 0:03:35.070 Saying we don't believe the story of the injury to 0:03:35.110 --> 0:03:35.870 our daughter. 0:03:36.390 --> 0:03:39.990 First conviction will be available from wherever you listen. 0:03:39.990 --> 0:03:43.430 Tell me if you're hiding anything. Tell the truth, I said. 0:03:43.430 --> 0:03:44.990 I'm not hiding anything.