Former Christian Brothers teacher sexually assaulted boys during his 30 year teaching career
Declan Brennan
A former Christian Brothers teacher sexually assaulted primary school boys throughout the entire course of his 30 year teaching career, a court has heard.
On Monday, Judge Elva Duffy sentenced the 83-year-old Dublin man, who cannot be identified at this point for legal reasons, to a prison term of four and a half years for the sexual assault of nine young boys.
Most of the boys were between 11 and 13 years old when abused, though one victim was abused from the age of eight to the age of 13.
The 38 offences took place in a Dublin city school between 1980 and 1995. The man was previously convicted of sexually assaulting young boys during the 1960s and 70s.
The sentence hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard how the man would call boys up to the top of the class where he would put them across his knee and smack them, often with an implement, before indecently assaulting them by rubbing their buttocks or groin.
Another victim told the court that in an incident during the 1981 to 1982 school term, the man called him to the top of the class, put the child over his knee and slapped him “extremely hard” on the buttocks. When the man began rubbing the child's buttocks, the child lashed out and hit the man in the face.
The boy was sent to the principal's office and his mother called in. The boy told his mother what had happened and the woman stood up for her son and called the defendant a “dirty bastard”.
Another man described how he was twice molested by the defendant while in his class in the 1983 to 1984 school term. He said he felt so traumatised that he began making up reasons to avoid being sent to school.
His mother became suspicious and the boy told her about the teacher's behaviour. She went to the school and spoke to personnel and the man told the court he “could see her giving out”.
The man said he was “left alone afterwards” by the defendant, who continued to teach until 1995 when he became principal. In that time he abused three more boys, including one boy who was eight years old when the man began indecently assaulting him in 1987.
Over the next five years this child, who came from a significantly disadvantaged background, was subjected to an ever greater level of sexual abuse.
On one occasion this victim, whose mother was addicted to heroin, told the man that he was going to tell his mother. The man told the boy that if he did this, his mother would go to jail and the boy would be put in a home.
The man was convicted last March after a trial. He continues to deny any offending and does not accept the verdicts of the juries in any of the trials, defence counsel, John Griffin BL, told the court.
Judge Duffy said that the victim impact reports handed into court detailed the long term impact the offending has had on the lives of the victims and made for distressing reading.
She said the defendant's actions have caused untold trauma and damage and impacted on the education and aspirations of the victims. She noted that the abuse left many of the men with a life long distrust in authority and she commended them for the dignity and bravery with which they gave their evidence during the trial.
Mr Griffin told the court that since the trial last March his client has suffered a brain haemorrhage and he asked the court to take his client's age and medical ailments into consideration.
Noting that he has not taken any responsibility for his actions or shown any remorse Judge Duffy ordered the sentence to start from Monday. The man is currently serving a four year prison term for some of his other offending.
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.
