740 entries for Letterfrack Industrial School

In his response statement, Br Dax adopted a Garda Statement in which he admitted fondling the complainant and forcing him to engage in masturbation. He accepted that he might also have asked the complainant to ‘kiss his penis’. He also accepted that he raped him although he could not recall how many times this had occurred. He did not recall digitally penetrating the complainant but accepted that it might have occurred, and he accepted that the abuse could have happened in a room off the kitchen.

The Congregation’s response to the statement of this complainant did not focus on the admitted facts of the abuse, but instead concentrated on the areas of minor inconsistencies, such as the discrepancies in the age of the complainant at the time of the alleged abuse and details about his work in the kitchen.

Another ex-pupil who gave evidence worked on the poultry farm with Br Dax. He said he enjoyed the work there because he had a great deal of freedom as Br Dax also worked in the kitchen. He got on well with Br Dax to a point but he was sexually abused by him.

He said that Br Dax slept in a room next to his dormitory and on Saturday mornings he would be required to clean this room.

The complainant stated that for about 10 weeks he was abused by Br Dax on Saturday mornings while he cleaned the room. He stated that Br Dax would rub talcum powder around his neck whilst ‘kissing you like you were a girl’. The complainant recalled that: ... he’d lie on top of me and sexually ... he would have his penis between your buttocks and moving himself about and ejaculated and that’s it.

He said that Br Dax also abused him in a room in the monastery, which was used for incubating the chicks. On one occasion when Br Dax was abusing him he said that a Brother, he thinks it was Br Noreis, knocked at the window to get Br Dax to stop: Br Dax is kind of loving me, like, arms around me, loving me inside in the room and I think it was Br Noreis, knocks at the window. It was like a mild reprimand, a little joke and it stopped ... Nothing serious, like, but what he was doing you would have some explaining. Like, if I got a child now or I got a young fellow. I keep saying a child because we were children down there.

The abuse continued until the complainant threatened to tell a local priest. Br Dax did not react in any way other than to stop his abuse. The complainant could never bring himself to tell the priest of what had happened to him. The Investigation Committee found the complainant’s account of sitting in a shed outside the priest’s house, trying to work up the courage to tell somebody, moving: I would be fearful of saying it, of the consequences. I would be fearful of the consequences. Even if he believed me about what was taking place, there is no reason for me to suspect that he is going to act on it. Like, who is going to challenge – like, what is he going to do? Who am I, as a child, am I – am I going to put this particular Christian Brother and the good name of the Christian Brothers in jeopardy by what this man is doing to me of a Saturday in his room? I have the good sense to know that. But at the same time I used to get excited. Now, I went down there about five times down to his house but I never went to the door. But I feel that if he had probably come out to the door I might have gone over and said something and blurted it out and lived with it or whatever. It didn’t happen. It stopped with Br Dax and I worked with Br Dax after that until I left.

He would not have been able to complain to the Superior: I got on very well with Br Guillaume. No, I would have been embarrassed to go to Br Guillaume . I would have been embarrassed to go to Br Guillaume . None of us lads ever spoke about these things. They don’t actually talk about it now, believe it or not. They only talk in general ways. People don’t go into detail about it. Br Guillaume, no, I never did. I liked Br Guillaume.

During cross-examination, counsel for the Congregation made much of the fact that Br Dax never slept in a room adjacent to the dormitory. However, in his own evidence, Br Dax stated that he spent the first two years in such a room. Br Dax admitted that he possibly did abuse the complainant on the poultry farm and in the room adjacent to the dormitory. It is inexplicable why the Congregation would seek to undermine a bona fide witness by challenging evidence that was subsequently confirmed by the respondent himself.

None of the individual respondents who gave evidence to the Committee of having worked alongside Br Dax suspected that he was an abuser.

Br Dondre described Br Dax as follows: He was a sort of a witty sort of person, he liked having a laugh. He liked joking. He took his job; he took the kitchen thing very serious. He invited me in a couple of times to test the food, to taste it and that, yes. Didn’t see much of him because when he was on duty, when he was doing the kitchen work, I was doing something else. As a Community man, well, as a Community, the Brothers saw very little of each other in Letterfrack.

Br Anatole described Br Dax as a friendly individual who worked very hard and who was good at his job. He also said he saw no evidence of any abuse by Br Dax in Letterfrack.

Br Karel, who had been the Superior of Letterfrack for two years, said that he had an argument with Br Dax over the manner in which the refectory was run. He said that he told Br Dax to give the boys more food and that he supervised a meal to ensure that the bigger boys were not stealing food from the smaller boys.

Br Telfour was asked whether there was anything from his recollection of Br Dax’s behaviour at the time that ‘clicked’ when he heard Br Dax had been imprisoned. He replied that there was not.

Br Dax perpetrated sexual abuse, often with violence, on boys in Letterfrack over a period of 14 years. The Congregation has failed to address the question as to how it was possible for him to continue undetected for so long. There are two possibilities: either the Brothers or some of them were aware of Br Dax’s activities but did nothing or they were not aware, in which case it must be asked why none of his many victims disclosed the abuse. Neither scenario reflects credit on the Institution or on the Brothers who worked there. Many of the accounts of abuse would not have been verifiable but for the admissions of the Brother, and only four of those who were named in criminal charges came to the Investigation, which implies that the incidence of such behaviour is substantially more than could be established in evidence. The Christian Brothers have accepted that Br Dax sexually abused boys in Letterfrack and have expressed their regret for this, but their approach to many of the witnesses was adversarial and even confrontational – calling into question evidence that the accused himself did not challenge or contradict. This approach was unnecessarily distressing for complainants.