Chapter 7 — Record of abuse (male witnesses)

Physical abuse

Sixteen (16) Brothers in four particular schools were identified by name as physically abusive in 244 witness reports and a further 53 male religious were identified in multiple reports by witnesses from those Schools.

The religious staff identified as physically abusive were reported to have been engaged in all areas of the Schools, including the classrooms, dormitories, kitchens, workshops, farms and recreation areas. Br ...X... he went over and got an ordinary leather ... and he started beating me. I was so frightened, he had the door locked, it was inside in the refectory. He beat me for a long, long time. ... I had marks on my legs, marks on my back. I was terrified with the beating I got. ... Another young fellow ...named co-resident... I seen the same Brother one day in the kitchen picking up a big iron poker and giving him a ferocious belt across the head.

Sixty-five (65) of the named male religious staff reported as physically abusive were identified by witnesses as being in positions of authority, including Resident Managers within the Schools. The remaining 329 Brothers and priests named by witnesses were reported to be care, teaching and ancillary staff within the Schools. Witnesses described some of the religious staff having different roles within the School and at times were not clear whether the ascribed role was in fact the individual’s dominant function within the institution. For example, witnesses referred to religious staff in authority as the Superior, Reverend Mother, School Master, Officer in Charge, Head Brother or Sister, and Brother or Priest in Charge. He ...(Br X)... reported me to Br ...Y (Resident Manager).... He used deal out the punishment for the running away or any trouble in the yard. Br ...Y... he told me to get into ...named location in School... that was where all the punishment was dished out. I was made face the wall in there for maybe half an hour or that. He made me sit down, there was a school bench.... Br ...X... came in and the other one ...(Br Y)... got the other side and he grabbed me arms, made me put me arms over the bench so you couldn’t get your legs out. They pulled me trousers down, he had ... they used to call it a black jack, it was like the rim of a pram that was broke, the rubber rim, they used get that behind on you, they used hit you with that. The pain off that was unbelievable that day ...distressed.... I got about 10 of them that day. Then I was put back on the wall, they came back after about an hour and they done it again, no Br ...X... did it, but the 2 of them was there.

There were 39 religious Sisters named as physically abusive by witnesses. The reports of abuse by Sisters refer to five junior and mixed gender Schools. Nine (9) Sisters were identified as Resident Managers, one of whom was named by five witnesses. I was messing around ... and this nun Sr ...X... was her name she got a hurley, a plastic hurley, she lashed me out of it with this hurley. There was another Sr ...Y... she was teaching me the clock and she used to hit me on the face when I didn’t understand it.

Ninety four (94) Brothers and five priests were named as both physically and sexually abusive by witnesses.

There were 95 lay staff, 75 male and 20 female, identified by name as physically abusive by male witnesses. A further 34 lay staff were identified by their position, but not by name, by male witnesses.

Forty two (42) of the lay staff who were reported as physically abusive were ancillary staff employed as night watchmen, drill masters, farm workers, maintenance and trade workers. Witnesses reported that contact with lay ancillary staff was mainly in the dormitories, showers or in the context of work activity on the farm, in the kitchens or in trade shops where they were in constant contact with the staff who abused them. They had a large shower area. We had one shower per week. The showers were back to back. The person in charge of the baths, he was a lay person, if he wasn’t happy he used to examine boys. To his reckoning if the boys weren’t clean enough, he’d examine you, he would poke and hit you with a stick. I was walloped ... quite a few times, you’d cower in the shower, he would wallop you, in the genital area and on the posterior.

Three (3) particular lay staff were identified by name in the evidence of 35 witnesses and a further 13 lay staff were identified by name by between five and nine witnesses who gave evidence to the Committee. He was cruel ...named lay ancillary worker.... He was an animal, he was a giant of a man. We were only kids. If you done something out of line you would get a toe in the arse, or a whack of a stick, whatever he had in his hand. You’d be out in the field, you would think you would be running around playing, no such thing, you were there to work.

Twelve (12) watchmen were identified by 30 witnesses as physically abusive. The night watchmen were employed to supervise the dormitories during the night and were reported to attend to residents who wet their bed. The main reports of physical abuse by night watchmen occurred in that context. This man had the job of walking up and down the dormitory all night. One night I woke up and this torch was shining in my face. ... He told me to get up and he took the walking stick and he gave me 10 whacks on one hand and then he gave me 10 more. He left me standing there while he did his rounds and then he came back and he gave me 10 more, I was shaking. I wet myself ...distressed.... He went around again and he came back again, at this time I don’t know what to do, I am shaking. I wet the floor, he gave me 10 more on each hand. I got 60 whacks of a cane, a little boy for waking up when a torch was shone on his face. Then he said “go back to bed”. I didn’t know what to do, I cried, totally bemused at this savagery. That was the start of 4 years, night after night after night he would walk around, I would pray “don’t stop, O God please don’t stop. If I’m seen to be awake what will I get?” I saw him hit many boys. One time when he was walking around the dormitory, I could hear him and I ...(soiled)... myself, now how frightened can you get?

Twenty seven (27) male lay staff reported as physically abusive were classroom and other teachers employed in the Schools. They were generally described as harsh disciplinarians who dispensed punishments for schoolwork and perceived misbehaviour. The PE teacher beat us with his fists and boots for coming last in the race, for smiling at the wrong time. • There were lay teachers, I don’t know about qualification or anything like that. One of them was alright, he tried to help us. Mr ...X... was sadistic, he took his belt off to me once and took my trousers down, oh it makes my heart run faster when I talk about him. It was terrible, terrible ...distressed.... He was the one who would use whatever he got hold of and he used put you over a chair and he also would cane the soles of your feet. • One of the school masters ...(lay teacher)... during the first year I was there, the first year, was a very sick man. ... One winter’s morning we were all lined up and told “say the Our Father”, not in English but in Irish. We started off and said ... we just knew the opening and the first 2 words. We couldn’t get any farther, how could we? We were not taught it and because we could not get any farther we got ...demonstrated being hit... on our hands with a strap. A strap with rivets in it because it was held together with little nails.

The 20 female lay staff who were reported as abusers included teachers, care and ancillary workers. Five (5) infirmary nurses were among the female lay staff reported by witnesses as abusive. Witness reported being abused by beatings and by the harsh treatments they applied. Named lay ancillary worker... she was a lay care worker, when she was away on holidays I never wet the bed, but when she was there I got hammered for wetting the bed. If she spotted you ... taking bit of bread from another lad ... she would tell you you were going to get hammered the following morning. You didn’t get it there and then, you would be worried about it and you would get it the next morning. ... But she ...named lay ancillary worker... was unreal.... You got up at half 6 or 7 o’clock and you would have to hold on to the iron bed with one hand and holding up the nightshirt with the other, and she would get one of the prefects to hold you ... she would hit you with a hurley or whatever she could lay her hands on, a broom handle, it could be 10 to 20 strikes. You would be polishing floors after that on your knees and you could get it again, you would not be able to sit down. • Nurse ...X... enjoyed hurting kids, she had no sympathy. You would rather put up with pain than go to her. All the boys were afraid of her; she was very brutal.

Eleven (11) male lay staff who were reported as physical abusers were also the subject of sexual abuse reports.

Thirty eight (38) witnesses reported that pervasive bullying was associated with physical abuse by older co-residents in the Schools. There were 16 reports of co-residents identified by name as physically abusing witnesses and 22 other accounts that referred to groups of unnamed older residents as physically abusive. Witnesses reported that in some Schools older residents were appointed by religious staff as monitors and it was said that they used the opportunity to exert their authority in various ways, including beating younger co-residents. I will never forget the brutality that went on in that place. ... I have got to tell someone before I depart this earth. We were constantly beaten with ash wood sticks by the senior boys left in charge of the playground. This amounted to extreme cruelty as little boys, only 6 or 7 years old.... They were allowed to carry sticks and they could do what they liked. ... In the yard they would be in charge, no one ever supervised that and they could do what they liked. I could never understand that. They were in charge of the dormitories, and the way they got you up with the stick, like, it was unbelievable.

Evidence was also heard of residents being directed by religious staff to attack, kick and beat their co-residents. Witnesses reported it was their belief that certain older residents were known to be favoured by those in charge and therefore had the freedom to behave as they wished without fear of reproach. I answered back in a sort of a cheeky way, and he ...(Br X)... said “wait a few minutes” and went out. I didn’t know what he had in mind, he came back with a couple of older boys and he said something like “teach him a lesson”. You see you have to remember in ...named School... at the time each of the Brothers had their own little flock, he had his own little pets. In later time I learned these boys used to work on the farm. Anyway Br ...X... he urged these lads on, they started punching and kicking me, I was in ... a corner trying to hide my face from the kicks. Well I was left with blood coming from my eye, from my lip and from my eyebrow.

Physical assaults by older residents were sometimes reported to have occurred in the context of sexual abuse and witnesses reported being physically intimidated by older boys in this way as a warning against reporting sexual abuse.