The trial of a garda accused of raping his wife and cruelty towards two of his daughters has reached its closing stages.The 48-year-old has pleaded not guilty to one count of child cruelty of his now 17-year-old daughter on dates between 2015 and 2024. He has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping his wife on dates in 2009 and 2021.He further pleaded not guilty to two counts of child cruelty of his now 24-year-old daughter on unknown dates between 2007 and 2020. He also denies a charge of assault causing harm to this daughter on an unknown date between late 2021 and early 2022, after she had turned 18.The alleged offending took place at two locations in the northwest where the family was living at the relevant times.After hearing evidence from a number of witnesses on Monday, prosecution counsel Dominic McGinn told the Central Criminal Court the State had reached the end of its case. The defence said it would not be calling any witnesses.Earlier, the accused man’s mother-in-law told McGinn that he often complained to her about her daughter. She said he told her in 2021 that his wife was lazy and did nothing in the house. The witness said she told him he was wrong and that her daughter did “everything” in the house. She said the man rang her once and said he would love to put his hands around her daughter’s neck and choke her. She told him to leave her daughter alone. The woman said that during her visits to the couple’s home, she felt like she was “walking on eggshells” and trying to avoid annoying the man.When asked about her eldest granddaughter, the witness said the girl was always in her room when she visited and not allowed to come out.She agreed with defence counsel James McGowan that she went in the same car with her daughter, and two granddaughters, to make a statement to gardaí. She denied that they discussed matters during the journey. She said she did not want to talk as it was “too upsetting” and she did not “know half the things that went on” as nobody told her.McGowan suggested it is normal for a teenage girl to spend a lot of time in her room. The witness said there were times when she visited that the accused brought food up to her eldest granddaughter, who was not allowed down for dinner.Defence counsel put it to the witness that she did nothing about her granddaughter. “I didn’t want to interfere,” she said, later adding that she spoke to her daughter about her concerns.Counsel asked why she did not report to gardaí that her son-in-law had told her he wanted to choke her daughter. She said she told her daughter and asked her to come and live with her.She said her daughter and her children stayed with her for several months in 2021 before returning home.Counsel asked the witness if she liked the man. “I don’t know what I feel about him,” she replied. “I was very good to him. I was very good to him financially. I’m still paying the mortgage on a house that he never paid when he left to keep my grandchildren and daughter in a home.”Counsel noted that the woman’s daughter had said her mother told her that she could not stand the accused. The witness said she did not remember saying this, but she accepted that she could have. “He’s hurt my daughter and grandchildren so much,” she added.Earlier, a detective working in protective services in the Garda division in which the defendant and his wife reside, told the court he became aware of a referral to gardaí from Tusla in July 2024. He told the Tusla social worker he wished to meet the complainant, the accused’s wife, if she was happy to meet him. They met later that same month and he said he told the woman he wanted to assure her that “if she wished to make a complaint that the matter would be fully investigated”. He said he contacted her by telephone two months later and again invited her to make a statement.A detective garda from the Sligo division’s protective services unit told McGinn he took over the investigation in October 2024. He said he took statements from the accused’s wife and older daughter and also obtained copies of medical records, counselling notes and Tusla records.He said a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a decision was made to charge the accused, who met gardaí by appointment on January 22nd last and was charged.The witness agreed with McGowan that he was aware the accused and his wife attended marriage counselling with Accord in May 2021. He said he made efforts last year to retrieve the counselling records but was told that the organisation did not have any notes “due to the passage of time”.The trial continues before Judge Sean Gillane and a jury.