Chapter 7 — Record of abuse (male witnesses)

Physical abuse

These beatings and floggings were reported to have taken place most often in the recreation yards, the boot rooms, the refectories and the stairwells. Witnesses described at times being made to bend over desks, stairs, benches, vaulting horses or to bend over with their fingers under their toes to be beaten on their bare back and buttocks. Forty eight (48) witnesses reported that they were beaten or kicked to the ground and that the beating frequently continued while they were on the ground. Witnesses commenting on the public floggings said that some residents ‘couldn’t stand at the end’ and recalled, ‘the beating went on until they ... (Brothers)... were exhausted’. They had what they called the public floggings, where you would be brought out in the middle of the ...(yard).... If they wanted to make a real example of you they would have all the other lads there and you would have to kneel down. I was flogged by 4 of them ...(Brothers)... one time. ... I was lashed.... They used to flog you at night time, you would be bruised all over, you would be sore at night, you wet the bed.

Witnesses reported being flogged and severely beaten for many reasons, including: disclosing or reporting abuse, absconding, speaking to visiting girls, riding a visitor’s bike, refusing to clear blocked toilets, taking food, fighting, delay in lining up, not washing properly or having torn clothes. When I was there 3 blokes ...named co-residents... they ran away and when they were brought back, they were flogged, on one of these vaulting horses. We were all there. Br ...X... said “I’m going to make an example of these boys”, and one by one they came out, no trousers on them ... naked from their waist down, each one individually over the vaulting horse, he flogged them. Well you could see their backsides going red blue, red blue, the whole School watching.

Twenty three (23) witnesses described injuries to their genitalia as a result of being kicked or flogged. Eighteen (18) witnesses described being hosed with cold water or having cold water thrown on them prior to, or in the course of a severe beating. A witness gave the following account of a severe beating when he was found in the company of co-residents who had been talking to some girls visiting their brothers in the School: Br ...X... met the boys coming up from talking to the girls, he sent them down to the washroom, he told me to go too, but I wasn’t with them. He told the 3 of us to get into bathing togs. He went out and got the leather strap, like the cut-throat razor, he came in, took off his coat and his collar and I never in all my life seen anything like what he done. He started beating us, saying we were talking to the girls ... he took off his shirt ... he didn’t beat me so much as the others. One of the lads started soiling themselves, he beat them so much, grabbing himself saying, “I’ll give ye girls”, rubbing himself. One of the lads was in bits, they were in a terrible state.

Witnesses reported being filled with terror as religious staff appeared to lose control when they were administering physical beatings or floggings. It was reported that such beatings frequently resulted in injury or, in 22 reported instances, rendered the resident unconscious. Eight (8) of the 22 witnesses reported that they passed out while being beaten and woke up in bed unable to move. There were 36 accounts of witnesses being unable to sit or lie on their back for some days after being beaten, and a further 28 accounts of being unable to walk following a beating or flogging. I remember another boy who would not cry. I remember one day he got 50 slaps on one hand and then 50 on the other and then another 50. This Brother got so mad that he ...(co-resident)... would not cry. He, Br ...X... kicked the legs from under him and kicked him to the ground and kicked him until he went unconscious. He was just lying there with his eyes staring up to the sky.

Eleven (11) witnesses reported that the flogging or beating they received was so severe that they thought they were going to be killed. Five (5) witnesses from two Schools reported that named co-residents were never seen again following a severe beating. I remember this one Brother. The boys would be crying in the morning going into class. He’d start with sums, always an awkward division. I remember one boy in the class ...named co-resident.... He was asked a question this time, he made the awful mistake of saying he knew the answer but couldn’t get the answer out, and with that this Br ...X... went absolutely berserk.... The brutality of that man, he hit him everywhere, with the leather. He ...(co-resident)... was trying to avoid being hit. I never saw him ...(co-resident)... again. I often did think about him, whether he went blind or not, I don’t know. I never saw him again.

Five (5) witnesses reported being locked in a dark room in solitary confinement for a number of days after a severe beating. Witnesses from a number of Schools reported that there were rooms where residents were left for days after severe beatings. A witness reported that he and others dropped bread through the window bars to a co-resident who was locked in that room. Other witnesses reported spending days or weeks in the infirmary following a severe beating or flogging.

Witnesses from six Schools reported an extensive practice of the delayed administration of physical punishment, which was described as ‘a double punishment, waiting to be beaten and the beating itself’. Experiences of delayed punishments described by witnesses were: kneeling on the floor in the classrooms, refectories or in the yards and standing in their nightshirts at night for long periods in the dormitories, waiting to be taken to the boot rooms, washrooms or stairwells to be flogged. Witnesses who wet their beds described the misery of waiting to be beaten each morning or evening in a routine fashion, in dormitories, offices or elsewhere. Returned absconders and others who had infringed a rule reported a component of the punishment was waiting to be beaten. They described being unable to sleep at night in anticipation of being taken out of bed for physical punishment. Witnesses also described being taken out of bed unexpectedly to be beaten for unknown reasons, making the possibility of being beaten a constant threat. You did not know when it was going to happen, they ...(Brothers)... would leave you until you were nice and snug, you’d think you were safe. I don’t remember their names. One of their favourite habits was to wait until you nearly fall asleep, and then they would bring you down the marble stairs. You would be in ... like a grandfather’s nightshirt, with nothing else underneath, and they would lift that up, and have you bent over the stairs. They would whip you then with this strap.

Witnesses described the psychological distress and physical pain of being made to stand facing a wall for lengthy periods, with arms raised waiting for a beating. They stated that they were hit if they moved or dropped their arms and were terrified as they waited, not knowing what form the physical punishment would take or when it would happen: The worst abuse was being put ...(standing)... and you would be there for about 3 hours and you would be waiting. Then they would send you to the boot room and give you a hiding. Sometimes they wouldn’t give you a hiding that evening but the next day and you would have all that day to think about it and stuff, it would do your head in. ...The wall was the length of the dormitory and your toes would have to toe the wall, tight to the wall, and if you moved there were monitors, they used to watch you and they would report you to the Brother. ... You stood with your hands behind your back, your nose, your head on to the wall. ...You’d have to stay there until the lights were dimmed and then you would be taken to the boot room for the hiding. I think that was the worst thing of all.

The practice of lining residents up to await punishment was described as a punishment in itself as witnesses believed it was intended that they hear the cries of their co-residents in advance of their own punishment. Br ...X... was an awful man, he was in charge of ...(recreation)... I got a lot of hidings off him. He had a strap about 2 inches thick and he would take down your pants and sometimes he’d say “come down to my office after” and there would be about 6 or 7 fellows there queuing up. You could hear the fellow inside. There would be crying and they would be shouting and you would be terrified outside. You’d be next in then, you’d be frightened, very, very frightened, the screaming, it was awful. The hidings was for everyday carrying on, you know kids like. We were all afraid.

Fifty nine (59) witnesses reported episodes of being physically abused by more than one person simultaneously. Of those reports there were 42 witness accounts of two or more religious staff coming to the dormitories at night and removing residents from their beds. Witnesses reported being brought to either cloakrooms, boot rooms, showers and bathrooms or the rooms of religious staff members where they were stripped and placed across a table, bed or chair and beaten by more than one priest or Brother. The Committee also heard reports of residents being held down by co-residents under the instruction of a Brother. A small number of witnesses reported being held with their head between the thighs of one of the priests or Brothers while another priest or Brother beat them on the bare bottom with a leather strap. Witnesses also reported being severely beaten as part of a group for various reasons, for example when no one admitted to talking during silent periods or when a staff member wanted a resident to admit to a misdemeanour. Many witnesses described the involvement of more than one religious staff in the episodes of severe beating or flogging, and the assault being so severe that they sustained an injury. You would get it ...(the leather)... on the back of the leg, on the arms, on the back on the head, anywhere. This guy ...(Br X)... had a temper he had a severe temper, like a horse. You could end up down ...(on the ground)... kicked, hit, leathered, you’d be black and blue I was hit to the floor, you would be black and blue, bleeding. I got quite a few with my trousers down and leather. ... He had a whistle and there were religious staff near by, they would weigh in, 3 or 4 of them, you daren’t react to these people. If they were physically abusing someone else you daren’t do anything or you would be for the high jump yourself. • One fella ...(co-resident)... called my mother a bastard. I hit him a box. ... They ...(Brothers)... told me to get into my togs and go up to the shower. After the cold shower the 2 of them ...(Brothers)... got 2 sally rods and they beat me, God did they beat me. You would feel the welts on your legs, I mean real dents on your skin. • Named School... ruined my life. Night-times were the worst; if you weren’t taken out of bed and beaten you were listening to it happening to someone else. You could hear the screams all over the whole building at night it was so quiet. Up to 4 Brothers would come and take a boy out of bed on some pretext and give him a hammering, make you take off your nightshirt, they would do what they wanted. They were like a pack of hunting animals. • At night-time you’d be in your nightshirt, 2 of them would hold you down, you could be asleep or on the mark of going asleep, it was always at night time. Three of them would come in. Two of them and the third one would do the beating. The strap ... (standing up demonstrating hitting)... it was done in frenzy, like they did not want to be caught....

There were five accounts of boys being tied down before being beaten; in one circumstance a witness described being tied to a bench and beaten. Another witness reported that a Brother sent him to the office, where he was told to take his clothes off, two Brothers took turns beating him on his body and hands until ‘I thought I was going to be killed’. The witness further reported his legs were swollen with open lacerations.

A witness, who reported he was wrongly accused of stealing from another resident, described being told by the Resident Manager ‘to take your punishment like a man’. He was then taken to the office and beaten by two Brothers, on the face, buttocks, hands, wrist and arm until the witness confessed to something he had not done. In a number of Schools the Resident Manager was reported by witnesses to be involved directly in the physical punishment of residents along with other religious staff and in other Schools there were reports of the Resident Manager being called on to agree a punishment.

Witnesses reported a catalogue of injuries to themselves and co-residents as a result of physical abuse by religious and lay staff members in the 26 Schools reported to the Committee. Two hundred and twenty four (224) reports were heard of injuries including: breaks to ribs, noses, wrists, arms and legs, injuries to head, genitalia, back, mouth, eye, ear, hand, jaw, face and kidney. Sixty four (64) witnesses reported being left unable to walk, sit, stand or lie down as a result of those injuries. Other injuries included burns, dog bites, lacerations, broken teeth, dislocated shoulders, injuries to the soles of feet, and burst chilblains. Chilblains were a common ailment in the pre-1970s period and male witnesses reported experiencing severe pain after being struck on hands and legs with chilblains. Witnesses reported that at times they were beaten until their chilblains burst and bled. I suffered from chilblains. I had poor circulation, really festering sores, your fingers as white as sheets, I had to dress my own. I couldn’t get my feet into shoes. One morning after very heavy rain the ground was water-logged, I didn’t want to go over and get my feet wet and aggravate the condition ...(chilblains).... He ...(Fr X)... caught me up in his arm and took me across the yard, walked me across ... on sore feet on the wet ground ... and dropped me in the hall. ... He took his revenge out on me, he walloped me with his stick, he walloped me for a full quarter of an hour or more. • He ...(Br X)... went around all the beds, you had the clothes, blankets and stuff rolled back and if you made one mistake, whack right across the legs. If you couldn’t get the right answer or recite the Our Father or Hail Mary, all in Irish, he would whack you across the soles of the feet with a bamboo cane. I saw boys there who couldn’t walk the next day. You were supposed to learn while you were in bed and recite it for him.

Many witnesses reported more than one injury, which included the following: One hundred and eighty six (186) witnesses reported being marked, bruised or swollen with welts. Seventy one (71) witnesses reported blood being drawn. Sixty (60) witnesses reported eye and/or ear injuries. Forty four (44) witnesses reported head lacerations. Thirty two (32) witnesses reported injuries to their hand, three of whom reported permanent damage. Twenty eight (28) witness reported broken ribs, arms or legs. Twenty three (23) witnesses reported injury to their genitalia. Twenty two (22) witnesses reported receiving injuries that left them unconscious. Twenty two (22) witnesses reported being scalded or burned. Twenty (20) witnesses reported broken noses. Twenty (20) witnesses reported split lips or broken teeth. Seventeen (17) witnesses reported injuries to their face or jaw. Thirteen (13) witnesses reported injuries to their feet. Eight (8) witnesses reported injuries to their back. Four (4) witnesses reported suffering kidney damage. Three (3) witnesses reported being stabbed with farm and kitchen implements.

There were multiple injuries reported in relation to particular Schools and staff members, for instance 126 witnesses from three Schools reported injuries including broken bones, fractured limbs, head injuries, broken teeth and being left bleeding and bruised. Six (6) witnesses from one School named a particular Brother as the perpetrator of severe injuries, including broken noses and facial injuries: I lost my 2 front teeth because of a whack like that ...demonstrated strike of the hand... out in the yard. If you got too near him...(Br X)... he would just whack you, he’d flatten you. ... A few days later I was sent to the doctor because my mouth was all up. ... He sent me on to the dentist in ...named town....