***This report contains distressing content***

A Waterford child abuse trial has heard the alleged victim told a social worker it was not real to try and get out of the court case.

The boy, who is now 12, said his parents abused and neglected him for years - and claims his father used to force him to have sex with his mother.

The parents face a total of 82 charges of abuse which allegedly took place at the family home in Waterford between 2007 and 2011.

The boy has been giving evidence via video link and claims his father used to beat him regularly and would abuse him with a fire poker.

He said he would threaten him with knives and guns and once threw him into a box he had built in his shed and nailed it shut.

He told the jurors his father showed him how to have sex with his mother and made him do it on a number of occasions.

He said he used to record these incidents and show the videos to people who called to the house.

The boy was taken into care when he was eight and now lives in the UK. The jury heard he told a social worker over there that none of it was real.

He claims he only said that because he was worried his father might find him and wanted to get out of the court case.

His parents deny the charges.