AN Irish woman living in the US has angrily denied attempting to brainwash her 14-year-old sister or trying to "marry her off" in the Mormon community.

Melita Carter was accused of convincing her half-sister Shannon Cowan to stay with her in Utah following a visit last summer, sparking fears she had been abducted by a religious cult.

In a desperate bid for help, their mother Caroline told RTE listeners to Liveline earlier this month that she feared for Shannon's safety.

But in an interview with the Sunday Tribune, Carter said she was anxious to clear her name and accused her mother of exploiting the Mormon religion to get attention.

"The whole brainwashing thing is crazy," she said from her home in Provo, Utah. "I feel Caroline brought my religion into this because she knew people would listen to what she had to say.

"I feel like what happened between Caroline and I has nothing got to do with religion and that it should not have been brought up."

Carter also reacted angrily to the suggestion by their mother that the Mormon community would attempt to marry Shannon off in line with traditional religious practice.

"That was a part of my religion that was practised over 200 years ago, that men could have as many wives as they wanted; that is no longer practised and Caroline herself knows this," she said.

She claimed she received death threats as a result of the situation.

Carter, Shannon's half sister, moved to America shortly before she turned 18 to live with her father. While Caroline claimed she left at the age of nine, what is clear is that the pair only made contact again earlier this year and enjoyed a successful reunion last May.

Shannon made a subsequent trip and was due to return to Ireland on 19 August but never came back, sparking a stand-off between her older sister and parents in Dublin.

Despite legal injunctions and accusations that Shannon had been mistreated by her mother in Ireland, she has since returned home.

"Melita has a barring order against me because they are making allegations that we were supposed to be hitting Shannon and things like that," Caroline told Liveline, denying the allegation.

The teenager had been enrolled in a local school and is understood to have been attending classes when the temporary legal order was reversed and she was returned to her father's custody.

Carter said she has not been in touch with Shannon since her return and does not want to get her in trouble. But she remains bitter about how the story was handled and how it reflected on her relationship with her sister.

She also claimed Shannon was in America for a full three weeks after she was due to return home and that her parents made no effort to get her back.

"Where were they all this time? If they missed and loved Shannon so much and were so worried my husband and I were brainwashing her, why were they not here sooner?" she said.

Carter said she was initially supposed to fly home with her teenage sister but could not because she found out she was pregnant. Shannon, she claimed, decided to stay.

"The police came to my house and questioned Shannon by herself and Shannon told them that she was here of her own free will," she explained.

"Shannon's father showed up to my house with the police on the Sunday before Shannon went home and was trying to take Shannon [but] because my husband and I had the protection order Shannon could choose who she wanted to be with. Shannon chose to stay with my husband and I."

Efforts to contact the Cowan family were unsuccessful and calls to their US-based attorney were not returned.