BELFAST, Northern Ireland, April 23 (UPI) -- Gerry Adams, president of Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein Party, testified for the prosecution Monday at his brother's trial for molesting his daughter.
Liam Adams allegedly sexually abused his daughter, Aine Adams, who is now 40 and has allowed her name to be made public, when she was a young girl, ages 4 to 10. He has been charged with three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.
Gerry Adams, now a member of the Irish Parliament or Dail, said his brother admitted what he had done to Aine in 2000, The Irish Times reported. He said he and Liam took a "walk in the rain" and talked about his brother's actions.
He also testified about a meeting in 1987 involving Liam, Aine and Aine's mother, Sarah Marie Adams, the Belfast Telegraph reported. Gerry Adams, who said Liam at that meeting denied the alleged assaults, denied he threatened him with a hammer.
"I regret that the meeting took place in the way that it did because Liam denied the assertion that he had interfered with Aine," he said. "When that concluded I spoke to Liam on my own and said to him that I was very aware of the situation, that he needed to reflect on and needed to acknowledge what Aine was saying. Why would she make it up? There was no reason why she would make any of this up."
At the time, Gerry Adams was a member of the British Parliament, although, as an abstentionist republican, he never participated in its deliberations.
