The High Court has begun hearing a challenge aimed at quashing the verdict of an inquest three years ago that found the body of an unidentified baby girl found murdered in a laneway in Co Dublin in 1973 was the child of Cynthia Owen.
Ms Owen claimed the baby was born as a result of serious sexual abuse in her family home in Dalkey and was killed by a family member.
The challenge to the inquest's verdict is being taken by her sister, Catherine Stevenson. It is being supported by another sister, Esther Roberts.
The challenge was originally brought by Ms Owen's father, Peter Murphy Senior, who has since died, as well as Ms Stevenson, Ms Roberts and another sister, Margaret Stokes.
The inquest in 2007 found that the baby, discovered in a laneway in Dún Laoghaire, was the child of Ms Owen.
It found that she died at the family home and that the cause of death was haemorrhage due to stab wounds.
Opening the case, Sunniva McDonagh, Senior Counsel for Ms Stevenson, said the Dublin County Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty had no jurisdiction to reopen the original 1973 inquest.
She said Ms Owen came forward in 1994 to say she was the mother of the baby.
She said there was no objective medical or forensic evidence for this.
She said there were no notes of the original 1973 inquest.
Ms McDonagh said Ms Owen alleged she became pregnant at the age of ten as a result of incest in the family home and that Ms Stevenson failed to assist her in circumstances where the baby was being stabbed to death by another family member.
Ms McDonagh said it was the position of Ms Stevenson and of a majority of family members that there was no such baby.
