THE mother of the woman being sued by her brother for #150,000 over allegations of forced incest told the court yesterday of her horror at receiving her daughter's letter containing the accusation.
She told Dundee Sheriff court: ``To say I was horrified would be putting it mildly. I felt that I had let my daughter down to a very great extent in that she could not tell me what was going on.''
She added that her son and daughter seemed to grow distant around the time of the alleged incest.
She said: ``They squabbled a lot. But my son distanced himself from the whole family.
``Relations between my daughter and the rest of the family were fine, although she changed from being an outgoing child to being quiet and withdrawn.''
The mother said she had been told of a strip poker session involving her children during a holiday with another family in St Abbs. She said the mother of the other family had walked in on the children and found the girls naked.
Asked about her attitude towards her son now, she replied: ``I do not think that I could possibly think any less of him than I think at the moment.''
Earlier, her son told the court of his ``devastated disbelief'' on discovering his sister's letter to their parents.
He categorically denied the allegation that he ``partially penetrated'' his sister as ``complete fiction''.
His solicitor, Mr Clive Franks, claimed the defendant's evidence in court had been unreliable and that she had attached far too much importance to incidents which had been nothing more than ``childish pranks''. He also said the defendant had written the letter while receiving treatment for depression.
Advocate Ian Armstrong, acting for the sister, objected to her letter being used as evidence during the court action, alleging that it had been stolen by the pursuer and should not be accepted as evidence.
He argued her evidence was corroborated while the pursuer's evidence had been contradicted by other witnesses.
Sheriff Alistair Stewart said he would issue a written judgement, possibly before the end of next week.
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