Chapter 9 — Record of abuse (female witnesses)

Sexual abuse

There were no reports of sexual abuse alone and, almost all reports were of sexual abuse combined with physical abuse, neglect and emotional abuse.

The following table details the distribution of sexual abuse reports, according to the witnesses’ discharge period:

Decade of discharge	Number of sexual abuse reports	%
Pre-1960s	22	17
1960-69	64	50
1970-79	35	27
1980-89	7	5
Total	128	(100)*

Sixty four (64) reports (50%) of sexual abuse were made by witnesses discharged from Schools in the 1960s. It is important to note that approximately half of the witnesses discharged in the 1960s were in institutional care for most, if not all, of the previous decade. It is also of note that a higher proportion of the abuse reports by witnesses discharged in the 1970s and 1980s were of sexual abuse; for example there were eight reports of abuse from witnesses discharged in the 1980s, seven of which were of sexual abuse. By comparison there were 178 reports of abuse from witnesses discharged during the 1960s, 64 of which were of sexual abuse.

The secretive and isolated nature of sexual abuse together with witnesses’ experience of having their complaints disbelieved, ignored or punished contributed to the environment in which sexual abuse was reported to have occurred. Witnesses reported that the culture of obeying orders without question together with the authority of the adult abuser rendered them powerless to resist sexual abuse. Witnesses further reported that the fear of punishment, the threat of being sent to a more restrictive institution or their siblings being removed to another School also inhibited them in resisting, reporting or disclosing sexual abuse. Some witnesses spoke for the first time about being sexually abused during their hearings with the Committee.

Witnesses reported sexual assaults in the forms of vaginal and anal rape, oral/genital contact, digital penetration, penetration by an object, masturbation and other forms of inappropriate contact, including molestation and kissing. Witnesses also reported several forms of non-contact sexual abuse including indecent exposure, inappropriate sexual talk, voyeurism and forced public nudity. Witnesses gave accounts of being sexually abused both within the Schools and in other locations while in the care of the authorities in charge of the particular institution. They reported being sexually abused in many locations, including: dormitories, schools, motor vehicles, bathrooms, staff bedrooms, churches, sacristies, fields, parlours, the residences of clergy, holiday locations and while with godparents and employers. The Committee developed a classification of the different forms of sexual abuse described by witnesses that are shown in the following table:

Forms of sexual abuse	Frequency reported	%
Inappropriate fondling and contact	102	38
Enforced nakedness/ voyeurism	52	19
Vaginal rape	27	10
Forced masturbation of abuser by child/mutual masturbation	22	8
Attempted rape and associated violence	15	5
Kissing	14	5
Vaginal penetration by objects	10	4
Digital penetration	8	3
Oral/genital contact	7	3
Indecent exposure	6	2
Anal rape	3	1
Other	8	3
Total	274*	(100)**

Vaginal and anal rape, forced masturbation, oral/genital contact, various forms of vaginal penetration and attempted rape with associated violence accounted for 92 of the witness reports made to the Committee. Five (5) witnesses reported that they sustained injuries as a result of the sexual abuse to which they were subjected.

One hundred and two (102) other witnesses gave accounts of what was recorded as inappropriate contact including touching and fondling of breasts, genitalia, and buttocks.

The application of white lotion for the treatment of scabies was reported by 10 witnesses as a form of sexual abuse. The witnesses described both religious and lay female staff applying the lotion, paying particular attention to their genital area and breasts and passing derogatory remarks about their bodies. Four (4) witnesses reported being forced to wash the breasts of female religious staff.

Thirty five (35) witnesses from 16 Schools reported the practice of being stripped naked to be beaten as sexually abusive and stated that this happened most often in view of others but occasionally in private. Two (2) witnesses reported being observed by a workman and a priest in the course of naked beatings. She ...(Sr X)... would lay you across the bed and give you unmerciful beatings. I remember one day she had hit me on this side so much that I had to move and turn around, there was this priest there, and I looked around, and he was smiling.

Non-contact sexual abuse also included enforced nakedness that witnesses considered voyeuristic. Seventeen (17) witnesses described the manner in which they were made to stand in line without clothes waiting for a bath while being observed by staff and co-residents as sexually abusive. This practice was reported consistently from four Schools for both pre- and post-pubertal residents.

Six (6) witnesses reported being subjected to indecent exposure by men including clergy who visited their Schools and men in families where they were sent to work or for holidays. The other form of non-contact sexual abuse reported by eight witnesses included being exposed to inappropriate sexual conversation and adult sexual activity.

Witnesses consistently reported that sexual abuse occurred in an environment of fear and secrecy. Sexual abuse was also described as prevailing in circumstances where special relationships of trust existed between the abusers and those responsible for the welfare of those they abused. In particular witnesses commented on the relationship between religious Sisters and clergy. One witness stated ‘He ...(Fr X)... was always around the School, morning, noon and night, including bath time and bedtime. He was in the School for all meals’. Witnesses who had little or no family contact formed the majority of those who reported being sexually abused among the female cohort. These witnesses were believed to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of harsh discipline. Sexual abuse was also reported to have occurred in the absence of appropriate supervision, particularly in holiday and work placements in the community, and when adults from outside the School, understood to be in positions of trust, were given unsupervised access to residents.

The culture of fear engendered by persistent physical abuse, affectionless discipline and inadequate supervision provided circumstances where witnesses reported being sexually abused without recourse to protection or appropriate intervention. The following sections describe particular features of the circumstances in which female witnesses reported being sexually abused.

Fifty three (53) witnesses described how abusers forcibly coerced them to comply with and remain silent about sexual abuse by means of verbal threats and actual violence. In the most extreme instances witnesses reported that their lives and the lives of their siblings were threatened. One witness described being taken down to the furnace room when she was a young child by a workman and told he would put her in the fire if she told anyone their ‘secret’. A witness who reported being raped, by a named lay ancillary worker, on a number of occasions was silenced by threats: He ...X... got us back to his house, said he had a sandwich for us. After that he used to follow me around the place, the nuns would have to be blind not to see this. He threatened to burn down the School and threatened to kill my sisters, so you went to bed at night petrified, thinking he was going to break in and burn down the School. You were just petrified, so if I didn’t go to his house, this is what he would do, burn down the School and kill my sisters. He ...(witness described anal rape)... several time over years ...crying.... It stays with you, it sticks in my mind, and the threat to burn down the School.

Another witness reported that she was frequently sexually abused by a visiting external child welfare professional who threatened that her sibling would be placed for adoption if she told anyone about his abuse of her. The Committee heard evidence from three witnesses of sexual abuse by this man. Mr ...X... he sexually abused me, we used to have to go and see him, we had a sick room for children who were sick, we used to have to go in there ...crying.... He used make, you know, make me ...crying... take off all my clothes and used to make me lie on the floor ...crying.... It started happening, um, it seemed quite a long time after my First Holy Communion and then it stopped then when I got my period. He was always on his own. I think Mth ...Y... was probably somewhere around. ... He probably used to come and go as he pleased, he used bring me chocolates. He used to say “this will be our little secret, if you do tell anyone we will send ...witness’s sibling... for adoption”. I was frightened to death, I never ever said anything. It happened more than once.