Chapter 7 — Record of abuse (male witnesses)

Physical abuse

One witness who was transferred from a junior to a senior School when he was eight years old described how he had wet his bed for a long time and was used to it being managed fairly sympathetically. On the first and subsequent morning’s inspection in the senior School when his bed was found to be wet, the person in charge recorded his number. He was told to bring his wet sheet to the drying room for use the following night. After breakfast he was sent to join a line of boys outside the office and when his number was called he was sent into the office and given ‘6 or 12 slaps with the leather on the hands, wrist or backside’. He reported that he did not know why he was being beaten, he had never been punished for bed-wetting before and could not understand what he had done wrong. Nobody explained anything to him. Another witness explained his experience: Every night I was beaten for wetting the bed, the first night I said “the nuns didn’t beat me for bed-wetting”, he ...(Br X)... said “you’re here now”. Br ...X... would make you kneel down at the bed to pray, he would call out the boys every night ...(who had wet their bed)... he would beat you with the leather, if you pulled away he would get hold of you and hit harder, if you fell to the floor he would pull you up by the chin, twist your ear, pull you by the hair. After the beatings he would play the guitar and sing ...(popular)... songs.

In other Schools the punishment for bed-wetting was reported to have been reserved for bedtime when those who had wet their beds the previous night were lined up to await a beating either on their hands or bare buttocks. Many of the 124 witness reported that they were beaten in the morning and again at night. Other witnesses reported being sent to ‘the office’ where punishment was meted out, usually in the form of strokes of the leather on the hands or buttocks, described by one witness as follows: You had to fold your bed every morning. Anyone who wet the bed had to stand out. It was the fear. You were told to go to the office. Usually it was after school when they bate ...(beat)... us. They never did it before school ’cos you’d be going to school crying. There’d be 20 or 30 lads all waiting to be beaten, lined up outside the office ... it would only be that size ... (indicated small space)... That’s where we would get our beatings. You were just so scared; you didn’t know who was doing the beatings.... You were better off not looking at the strap, it would frighten you more. It would depend who was on and the form of the Brother how many slaps you’d get. You’d be told to drop your pants and tip your toes. ... The lads, my friends, would try and get me out of bed at night-time to go to the toilet.

Witnesses described trying to stay awake so as not to wet their bed. The rules in some dormitories were said to preclude getting out of bed at night. In other Schools witnesses reported being reluctant to go to the toilet during the night for fear of being followed and abused by the night watchman or older co-residents. There were 43 witness reports of being beaten and sexually abused by night watchmen and older co-residents in this context.

Cold showers and baths were described as a punishment for bed-wetting in the latter decades, with six such witness accounts from three Schools in the 1970s and 1980s.

Witnesses also reported going to considerable lengths to swap or hide their wet sheets, acknowledging that sometimes others were punished as a result. Other residents jeered those who wet their bed and some witnesses spoke with regret about their actions as children in this regard.

Soiling was reported less frequently and most often in the context of severe beatings. Fifteen (15) witnesses reported they were either beaten because they soiled themselves or soiled themselves as they were being severely beaten. Witnesses reported being publicly beaten with leather straps and hurleys and humiliated by having their faces pushed into their soiled bedclothes. Seven (7) witnesses specifically described soiling themselves as a response to extreme fear. I soiled myself a lot there, it was after a battering in the yard, it started after that, I never done it before that. After I got a hiding in the yard, this Brother came over and caught me by the back of the neck and swung me around. • In the classroom Br ...X... threw me out the window one day because I soiled myself. He was a bully, he hit me with the leather on the hands and he’d fist you as well ...indicated being hit on face.... Absconding – running away

Running away was a feature of life in the Schools and the majority of witnesses made some reference to either running away, thinking about doing so, or observing what happened to returned absconders. Witnesses consistently reported that residents who absconded or ran away were severely beaten and flogged upon their return to the School. The public nature and severity of the beatings were described as traumatic, and made a lasting impression on those who witnessed them in addition to serving as a caution against absconding. Reports of running away were frequently accompanied by accounts of persistent physical and sexual abuse. I ran away a few times. He ...(Br X)... was trying always to put his hand down my leg.... (On return to the School)... I was put up on rafters. There was an old shed there, it was a barn, I was tied to the rafters, he ...(Br X)... had the rope over the top, I was like that ...demonstrated spread out facing down... he lashed me with the leather, over the back and down the arms, that happened on 4 or 5 occasions, I ran away again after that.

There were 95 witness reports from 13 Schools of severe beatings as punishment for absconding throughout the entire period covered by the Report. The most frequent and most severe beatings pertained to the discharge period prior to 1970. The forms of physical abuse reported for absconding included: public beatings partly or fully naked, hair being shaved, deprivation of food and transfers to more distant and what were believed to be more restrictive institutions. In one School there were several reports of returned absconders being forced to wear oversized clogs as a deterrent. ‘They used to give me clogs so that I wouldn’t run away, or boots that were too big you couldn’t get far in them.’ Beatings of returned absconders were not always conducted in view of the other residents but were reported to be regularly within earshot, in the Resident Manager’s office, on the stairwell or in another room routinely used for such purpose.

Thirty (30) witnesses reported that they had their heads shaved as part of the punishment for absconding, six of whom reported having it done more than once. Witnesses reported that head shaving marked them as a returned absconder and therefore subject to further random beatings from both staff and co-residents.

There were 18 witness reports of absconders from three different Schools being beaten and otherwise punished by co-residents following public beatings by religious staff members. It was the reported practice in one School that the returned absconders were placed in the yard and the other residents were encouraged to kick and punch them while staff watched: I ran away when I was 12, I was caught and 2 of them ...(Br X and Br Y)... would lay into you and not only the Brothers but the lads as well, especially the monitors. They were told they could not see their film because of me, I got the head shaved, a scissors and the hand clip. • One day a gang of us went for a walk into a field, we were told we could. They had farm workers out with dogs looking for us. We were caught and brought back. We were taken onto the yard, they let the dogs go ...(attacking)... and the boys would line up and hit you with whatever they had in their hand, kick you, you had to run through the line. This was a punishment to let the boys know that if it ever happened again this is what would happen. That night you were beaten again, you were thrown over the bed ...crying....

A small number of witnesses described being forced to search for boys who ran away. One witness describes: ‘(Br X)... forced me to catch lads who were absconding, if you didn’t find them you’d get their hidings as well’.

Four (4) witnesses from two different Schools reported that they were beaten on the soles of their feet with a cane and leather strap as a punishment for running away. Witnesses from three other Schools reported being made to stand or kneel in the recreation yards following their beatings and were ostracised by their peers. Two (2) witnesses from the latter Schools reported being made to kneel in the yard for several hours in their underpants in winter and were incontinent while kneeling there. The punishment for absconding in a number of Schools was reported to include being put on reduced food and being forbidden to associate with others. Witnesses described being made to walk around the yard alone for several weeks. Others reported being made to kneel in the refectory while they ate bread and water. This punishment was described as continuing for days and up to three weeks in one instance. One witness reported that when he was brought back after running away his head was shaved and he was later taken from his bed, stripped and beaten, punched and kicked by a group of six Brothers in front of other residents. Anyway, 3 of us decided that we could not stick it ...(being beaten)... anymore, every time you looked he ...(Br X)... was after you. We could not take it, we ran away. We were out for about a fortnight and we were caught. I did not get flogged at the time but ...named 2 co-residents ...(were told)... “take off your pants” and they got 25 stripes. Now, I didn’t because I was 2 years younger and only had been there a while. The 3 of us were put into the refectory, they got 3 mugs and 3 chairs and said “kneel down” and we were like that for a week.... We had to kneel on anthracite coal in the kitchen, my knees were all bleeding.

A further punishment associated with absconding was depriving the other residents of watching the weekly film. This particular punishment was reported to prompt residents to abuse those who had run away in retaliation for missing out on this popular treat, as one witness described: I was put outside ...(yard punishment)... for about 3 months. Then after about 3 months they would let you go to the film but they would not let you watch it. You would have to sit with your back to the film and everybody would be watching you. It was just sheer terror really, sheer fear. Fear was the most cruellest part of it.

Five (5) witnesses reported that they were transferred directly to other Schools with harsher regimes as punishment for absconding.

One hundred and fifty seven (157) witnesses reported being physically assaulted in the classroom. Witnesses described the liberal use of the leather, cane and wooden ruler or stick on the face, palms, wrists, tips of the fingers, forearms, legs, backs of the hands, across the shoulders, back and the bottom. Learning was reported to have been dominated by the fear of punishment for various reasons including for not knowing the correct answer, being left handed, being unable to read when called upon and being unable to speak clearly, as described by a witness discharged in the 1960s: If he ...(Br X)... asked a question and you put the hand up, you got a beating if you could not ...(give the right answer).... If you were too slow with the answer you got beaten. ... I got to the stage that I didn’t answer because I would get a beating. Everything operated on fear. There was one Br ...X... if you done it too slow he hit you, he had 2 leathers, if he appeared on the scene there was fear. No matter what you done, you would always get it wrong. If you frowned or a flinch ... he would hit you.