An octogenarian former Christian Brother who indecently assaulted five schoolboys almost 50 years ago has been jailed for three years and two months.
The 87-year-old Co Waterford man, who can't be named for legal reasons, was found guilty by a jury of 30 counts of indecently assaulting five boys at a Co Kilkenny school on dates between August 1975 and June 1976 following a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial last month. He was acquitted of one count relating to a sixth boy.
The maximum sentence is two years. He has no previous convictions and does not accept the verdicts of the jury, the court heard.
In a series of victim impact statements which were read out at his sentence hearing, the five complainants, now men in their 50s, described how the man's actions shaped their lives, ruined their education and continue to affect them to this day.
The court heard the man regularly called his victims up to the top of the class, where he indecently assaulted them by touching them inappropriately. The offences took place over the course of one academic year when he was teaching fourth class.
One complainant, who read out his victim impact statement to the court, said he was a 10-year-old boy when he was “physically, sexually and mentally abused and the fear of God was put in me in school”.
He said he told the school principal about the abuse and was told “not to discuss it” and that he was a “good boy”.
“Eventually the abuse stopped for me,” the man said. “And in my innocence and naivety, I thought it stopped for others. This feeling of guilt eats at my gut every single day.
“If only I had been brave enough (to speak out). Then again, I was only 10 years old.”
In their victim impact statements which were read out by a local garda, the other four complainants described being let down by the school and by the Christian Brothers, who they said had a duty of care to them. They reported dealing with depression and anxiety and some struggled with alcohol. Most of them kept the abuse a secret for years.
The complainants reported hating school as a result of the abuse and many of them failed to get a good education. One complainant said he was “scarred for life” in the wake of the abuse.
Sentencing the man, Judge Elma Sheahan said the abuse perpetrated by the man on five “young, innocent boys” left an indelible mark.
She noted the common features of the five victim impact statements and the impact the trial process had on them in terms of them being retraumatised by old memories of the abuse.
Addressing the complainants directly, two of whom were present in court, Judge Sheahan said they should not feel shame but “pride of the bravery you have shown in coming to court and detailing what happened to you as a small boy”.
She handed down a sentence of three years and two months and declined to suspend any portion of it, given the man's lack of remorse and continued denial of the offences. She noted time in custody will be more difficult for him, given his age and health issues, and she ordered that he receive all appropriate medical treatment while in custody.
In her plea of mitigation, Kathleen Leader SC, defending, said the man has a number of serious health issues, including prostate cancer and secondary bone cancer. He also has heart disease and arthritis. She said that going to prison as an 87-year-old would be especially difficult for him.
The court heard the man entered the Christian Brothers when he was 16 years old and left in the 1990s. He was described by his neighbours as “kind and considerate” in testimonials handed into court.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/, or visit Rape Crisis Help.
