Chapter 17 — Primary and second-level schools

Physical abuse

In the majority of instances the abuse was reported to have occurred in the classrooms, corridors, and within the general school environs. Witnesses commonly reported being physically abused as a punishment for mistakes in lessons, not giving the correct answer in class, being unable to do school work to the required standard or for no reason they could understand. A witness described being punched, kicked and hit for failing to give a correct answer in class. Witnesses also reported being punched, beaten and stood on in the context of being sexually abused or for disclosing sexual abuse. There was a priest in ...named boarding school.... I was tiny, he beat the living crap out of me from the time I went in, for 3 years. He was Fr... X ... (Principal).... He was a bully and picked on me for no reason, he battered me for fun.

Witnesses described being beaten with leather straps, canes, wooden dusters, cricket bats, sally rods, and wooden sticks including chair legs and map poles. They reported being beaten on their hands, legs, on both covered and bare buttocks, and while held down on the desk. In addition to being hit with implements, male and female witnesses also reported being punched in the face, hit around the head, back and shoulders, pulled and lifted by their hair and ears, and kicked to the ground. The following is a report of physical abuse by a male religious teacher: He’d grab you by the hair like that and he’d pull you up to the blackboard by the hair. He’d grab me by the nose, eventually my nose was broken, the doctor confirmed for me the nose was broken .... He’d slap you on the bottom, pants was down, 4 slaps and he would always go up higher on the spine for the last 2 slaps. He’d tell you to pull trousers down and if you did not pull it down he’d pull it down ...

Witnesses commented that pupils who appeared to have learning difficulties or were from disadvantaged backgrounds were beaten and punished more severely than others. One witness described a pupil with learning difficulties being beaten regularly on the back of the hands for not holding his hand up high enough. Another witness stated that ‘...it depended on your family, or where you came from, ... maybe people that were not that well-educated, or that were not that assertive...’ were more vulnerable to abuse.

Ten (10) male witnesses reported being distressed while in the class of specific teachers in primary school due to the constant, and at times severe, physical abuse. They described a general atmosphere of fear where physical abuse was unpredictable, for reasons they could not understand, and at times in association with sexual abuse. Four (4) male witnesses gave accounts of being beaten or kicked to the ground. One witness stated that he and another pupil were often selected for beatings because they were the biggest boys in the class ‘I was beaten into a heap on the floor for no reason except my height’. Another witness reported that on an occasion when a leather strap was not available the teacher tore the wooden roller from the wall map, broke it in half and hit everyone in the class.

Two (2) of the above witnesses who gave evidence of severe physical abuse described constant beatings. One stated that the teacher insisted that he sat at the end of a row of desks and as he passed said; ‘Are you paying attention? ... and with that his foot would go out and he’d give me a kick on the shin’. The witness reported the Brother said prior to beating him on the bare buttocks ‘I hate your guts. I’ll give you something to remember for the rest of your life’. The other witness stated that he and his fellow pupils were either made to stand at the back of the class or lie across their desks waiting to be beaten.

Thirteen (13) witnesses reported to their parents or others that they were physically beaten in association with sexual abuse or in the context of disclosing sexual abuse. One witness described his experience of persistent physical and sexual abuse: While this...(sexual abuse)... was going on I used to get some pretty bad beatings from him in the classroom. One day he was beating me really badly across the back and on the shoulders with the leather and I remember wetting my trousers with the fright of it... I could never tell anyone, no one would really believe you... and I started getting some bad beatings in the yard and the cloakroom from other boys and that was it. I just kept moving, stayed away from everyone as much as I could.

Thirteen (13) witnesses, 11 male and two female, reported sustaining injuries as a result of physical abuse following which a number were temporarily unable to walk or write. The injuries reported included: head and leg injuries, lacerations to hands and backs, bruising, and loss of teeth. One witness reported that he suffered a lacerated skull and damage to one eye, which led to partial blindness. Another witness reported being taken to hospital after he had been beaten unconscious. A female witness described being beaten on the tips of her fingers, palms and backs of her hands on occasion until her ‘hands were red raw’.

Witnesses reported being physically abused by teachers including school Principals. They also reported being physically abused by older pupils, care staff in boarding schools, and by a visiting priest. Of the 80 individuals reported to be perpetrators of physical abuse witnesses identified 57 by name, while others were identified by their role or position in the school, as illustrated in the following table.

Position of reported physical abusers	Males	Females
Religious
- Principal	6	0
- Teacher	29	6
- External priest	1	0
Lay
- Principal	4	0
- Teacher	23	6
- House-parent	1	0
Other pupil	4	0
Total	68	12

Forty one (41) religious teaching staff, six of whom were priests, were named by witnesses as perpetrators of physical abuse. Thirty three (33) lay teaching staff were also named as abusive. Ten (10) of those named as abusers were identified by witnesses as the schools’ Principals. Two (2) other individuals reported as abusers were a visiting priest and the house-parent in a boarding school.

Four (4) male witnesses reported being abused by other pupils, one of whom stated that he was caned by older boys and that when he became a prefect he caned younger pupils himself. The other three witnesses gave accounts of being beaten by older boys whom they believed were forced by two religious and one lay teacher to ‘deliver’ punishments. One of these witnesses described being made to kneel with his hands on the floor while a fellow pupil was instructed by his teacher to take his trousers down and beat the witness in front of the class.

Three (3) witnesses reported being abused by male and female lay teaching staff. The abuse described was beating with a stick on the hands and legs for being late for school or for academic failure. A female witness gave an account of being beaten by a male lay teacher when she attempted to disclose that he had sexually abused her. Another witness stated that a lay teacher stood on her toes and punched her in the chest in order to intimidate and restrain her while he sexually abused her.

Sexual abuse

The use of the child by a person for sexual arousal or sexual gratification of that person or another person.4 This section presents evidence reported by witnesses to the Committee of their experiences of sexual abuse in primary and second-level schools. The abuse reported ranged from contact sexual abuse involving vaginal and anal rape and sexual molestation to non-contact abuse including voyeurism and exhibitionism. Some witnesses provided detailed accounts of the sexual abuse they experienced. Other accounts were sufficient to clarify the acute or chronic nature of the abuse.

Forty (40) witnesses, 34 male and six female, made 40 reports that they were sexually abused in 35 schools: 23 primary, 11 second-level and one vocational/technical school. Nine (9) of the schools that were the subject of reports of sexual abuse were fee-paying boarding schools, two of which were primary-level schools. One male witness reported being sexually abused in both primary and second-level schools. Five (5) primary schools were each the subject of two reports of sexual abuse. The reported abuse in these schools was perpetrated by religious teaching staff, five of whom were identified by name.

The Committee heard reports from witnesses that they were sexually abused by various means including rape, fondling, oral/genital contact and masturbation. Witnesses described being abused in various locations including classrooms, dormitories, toilets, recreation areas, and staff rooms. Witnesses also reported being abused outside the schools in places such as hotels, private homes, and while away on school outings or holidays.

Twenty seven (27) witnesses reported chronic sexual abuse continuing over a number of years by a named abuser, generally a class teacher. Others described single acute episodes of abuse, including vaginal and anal rape.