Chapter 13 — Special needs schools and residential services

Physical abuse

Ten (10) witnesses reported receiving injuries as a result of the physical abuse they experienced, including five accounts of receiving wounds that bled and four accounts of extensive bruising. There were separate accounts of injury to one witness’s arm that the witness believed resulted in permanent disability and injuries to another witness’s head and ears, which were believed to be the cause of subsequent hearing loss. Another witness stated that she required sutures to her arm following a severe beating with a broom handle. Both religious and lay staff were reported to have perpetrated abuse that resulted in these injuries and one female witness reported injuries that were the result of being assaulted by a group of older co-residents. She ... (Sr X)... beat me,... (on)... me arms, me legs. She used to put me across the table and beat me, it could be the strap, the ruler, it could be anything, she used pinch me so hard. I used be black and blue my legs would be black when she’d be finished with me.

Evidence was heard regarding 80 staff and co-residents who physically abused witnesses in special need facilities.

Witnesses identified 57 staff, 24 male and 33 female, by name as physically abusive. A further 16 staff, 13 male and three female, were identified by their position as abusive but were not named by witnesses. Thirty seven (37) of those identified by name were religious staff and 20 were lay care staff, teachers and ancillary workers. Eight (8) named staff who were identified as physically abusive were also reported as being sexually abusive. It is possible that there is some overlap between staff identified by name as abusive and those who were not named by witnesses.

There were seven accounts of physical abuse perpetrated by co-residents, including three co-residents who were named by witnesses. The other four accounts were of groups of co-residents referred to as ‘gangs’ who were physically abusive and who taunted and threatened witnesses and other residents. Witness information regarding precise numbers of co-resident abusers was incomplete. As numbers are uncertain, each group is included in the following table, as one abuser and, therefore, could be considered an under-representation of the actual number of co-residents reported as abusers. It is also possible that there is some overlap between co-residents identified by name as abusive and those who were not named by witnesses.

Table 8 shows details regarding the reported position and numbers of named and unnamed individuals described as physically abusive:

Position of reported physical abusers	Males	Females
Religious
- Authority figure	6	5
- Care staff	18	5
- Teacher	7	7
Lay
- Care staff	0	11
- Teacher	2	4
- Ancillary worker	4	4
Co-resident	6	1
Total	43	37

Eleven (11) of the religious staff reported as physically abusive were described as either being in charge of the institution or the Principal of the school. The 34 religious and lay staff, listed in Table 8 as care staff, were described by witnesses as having contact with residents in the context of their personal or everyday care. Lay staff who were occupied as night watchmen and laundry workers, and others with designated tasks, are identified above as ancillary workers. Religious and lay staff listed in Table 8 as teachers were either referred to as teachers by witnesses and/or were described as abusing witnesses in the classroom. There was one person very cruel, he was a teacher, he used to tell us he would go to hell when he died because he did not beat us enough. He had been in another school and he was dumped into ... (witness’s special needs school).... He was a very unsuitable man, he would use a full cane with the ridges on it, he would beat you anywhere. I remember him beating me around the neck, it was quite strong, he was lashing out generally. Usually it was for inability to learn Irish, I was not bad at Irish, he beat me, I don’t know why, I didn’t know what was happening to me.

Sexual abuse

This section summarises the witness evidence given of sexual abuse, ranging from contact sexual assault including rape to non-contact abuse, such as voyeurism and inappropriate sexual talk. Witnesses gave as much or as little detail as they wished when describing their experiences of being sexually abused. While some witnesses provided detailed and disturbing accounts of sexual abuse, less detailed accounts were sufficient to clarify the acute or chronic nature of both contact and non-contact sexual abuse.

The use of the child by a person for sexual arousal or sexual gratification of that person or another person.6 Thirty six (36) of the 58 witnesses who reported abuse in schools and residential services for children with special needs reported being sexually abused. The 36 reports were from 29 male and seven female witnesses in relation to 10 separate special needs facilities. Twenty seven (27) reports referred to abuse in facilities for children with intellectual disabilities and eight reports referred to facilities for those with sensory impairments. One report referred to abuse in a residential facility for physically disabled children. Eight (8) facilities were the subject of between two and 10 reports, totalling 34 reports. Two (2) others were each the subject of single reports.

The forms of sexual abuse reported by the 36 witnesses included voyeurism, inappropriate fondling, mutual masturbation, oral/genital contact, penetration with objects, kissing, vaginal and anal rape. Eleven (11) witnesses, nine of whom were male, reported being raped. With one exception witnesses reported being raped many times, in some instances on a regular basis for periods up to five years.

Witnesses reported that sexual abuse occurred in private and was most often perpetrated by specific individuals over a period of time. Witnesses from three facilities described being taken from their beds at night by male religious staff and being sexually abused in the staff members’ bedrooms. They reported being raped, fondled and molested, and some described being unable to walk following such episodes of abuse. Other witnesses reported being sexually abused by staff members while engaged in routine activity or while entrusted to their care. There was another Brother, he brought me into his room I didn’t like it, he did things, he hurt me. I was crying ... it was at night time, he made me do things.... He did things to me ... he hurt me. Sometimes he took me into his room, he slept in a room on his own off the dormitory. ... I didn’t like that going on. He was nice to me after it ...(anal rape).... • I was sexually abused by ...named lay ancillary worker... at 13 or 14 years of age, a few times. He agreed to bring me home to where I came from for a visit. I knew him so well. He started to touch me in my private parts and kissed me. He stopped in a lane on the way home ...distressed.... It’s all bad.

Witnesses also described being raped and/or inappropriately fondled in their own beds at night by religious and lay staff. Other locations of sexual abuse reported by witnesses included toilets, bathrooms, dormitories, classrooms, yards, play areas and off-site locations. Br ...X... used do dirty things to me at night when I’d get my period. He used to wake me at night and took off all my clothes and pull the things up on me. He raped me when I’d get my period, he did it 5 or 6 times and he’d touch my chest.... I told ...named lay care staff... and she put me to bed late ... (to avoid contact with Br X).... • From the time I was 7 until I was 14, maybe 3 nights a week maybe 4, 2 or 3 Brothers sexually abused me. They took turns, not every day, doing the night duty, walking around ... they had different shifts, they would enjoy themselves. They knew which boy was in the bed. ... Sometimes they would follow me behind the toilets in the day time and do it again, they would pretend to dry ...(me)... with the towel and they would do that, mess with you, kissing, touching....

Six (6) male witnesses reported that violence was a component of the sexual abuse. They were either beaten before they were abused or sexually violated as they were being beaten. Witnesses reported being subjected to extreme forms of physical violence, including having their heads held under water, being bound and gagged and otherwise restrained while being sexually assaulted and being beaten with leather straps on their bare bottom prior to being sexually assaulted. Two (2) of the six witnesses reported being physically and sexually assaulted by ‘gangs’ of co-residents.

A female witness reported being sexually abused by the father in a ‘holiday’ family to whom she was regularly sent from the special needs facility for many years. The witness believed that reports of abuse had been made in relation to this man prior to her being sent to the family. She did not understand what was happening, as she did not know what sexual abuse was. She had no family or other visitors and nobody to whom she could confide about her experiences at the time.

Three (3) male witnesses reported different forms of non-contact sexual abuse including being shown pornographic photographs, being photographed while naked and being stared at by religious care staff supervising showers and swimming activities.

Witnesses reported being forced to endure and comply with sexual abuse through threats of violence, isolation from their peers, deprivation of family visits and being threatened that they would be reported to authority figures. Witnesses also reported being subjected to various bribes and inducements, including money, cigarettes, sweets and alcohol: Another Brother ...(X)... (teacher)... he used to bring a white bag with scones in it from the Brothers’ kitchen to our rooms and he would give the scones to the children who would let him feel their legs and touch them. ... He would examine their essays, check their spellings. ... He would check us all out closely and while he was doing that he would be sitting quite close to us and feeling our legs, at that stage I was quite innocent. • One ...(Br X)... didn’t teach in class, he would look after pupils, he was a big man. ... On the day before I left I asked him for ...a book... he told me to go upstairs. He suggested he would go to the room where he kept his books, but he took me to his bedroom and he closed the door and I got a fright. ... He pushed me over onto his bed, he was wearing his habit. I was trying to resist, I could see his face, he was really red in the face. ... I couldn’t feel his private parts because he had his habit on and that was ok. ... (witness described molestation)... .Afterwards he gave me a bar of chocolate and told me to keep quiet about it, I was very shocked.