2,143 entries for Witness Testimony

Ten (10) witnesses, seven male and three female, reported being raped while resident in a Children’s Home. They gave accounts of these assaults being perpetrated by staff, peers and others associated with the Homes. In some instances witnesses reported being coerced, threatened and subjected to physical violence in association with being raped. One witness reported multiple episodes of anal rape causing injury. Others stated that they were repeatedly raped over a number of months and believed the assaults stopped when the perpetrator began to abuse a younger resident. It happened a good few times maybe every week or every 10 days, sometimes it would be twice a week, it all depends you know. It just kept going until I was released after a year. Other kids would say ... “it was your turn tonight”, I would not know what they mean like the first 2 weeks I was in there, I would not have a clue what they were talking about. There were little boys, the beds were beside each other there and they would be over at your bed talking and afraid... (saying)... “I hope it’s not me tonight”. Janey, there was nothing you could do for them, on the other hand you were afraid yourself. You knew what they were saying was correct and the same time you would be hoping it wouldn’t be you yourself.... It was the younger fellas that got called out.

A small number of witnesses reported that the violence associated with sexual abuse was so severe that they were helpless and unable to protect themselves. X ...(named volunteer worker)... came with another man every Sunday morning after breakfast. On the first week he selected me for some sort of pretext for punishment, he took off his belt ...and beat me... from head to foot in front of all the others. Then he shut me in a cupboard for half an hour before sending me to the dormitory where he gave me another beating before raping me. This was repeated every Sunday for 12 weeks, and then he moved on to another boy. They came every Sunday for the 3 years I was there.

Nine (9) male witnesses from a small number of Homes reported that religious staff, visiting the dormitory at night, sexually fondled them in their beds. Others described being taken from their dormitory and raped by male lay staff. Witnesses also reported that molestation and inappropriate sexual contact took place in public locations such as cinemas, classrooms and external social venues. At the Christmas party for boys provided by ...(named voluntary organisation)... I was taken to the toilet by a volunteer called ...X.... He masturbated me and gave me 2/6. • He ... (named lay Resident Manager)... would ... distressed... well he used to come to the dormitory, you know, come to your bed at night. He’d say “come out here...”. You’d get out of bed and you would only have a pair of underpants and a vest on you. He would take you out to ... (external building)... and he would start abusing you in different ways, sexual ways. He would make you take off your clothes and do things to you that he shouldn’t be doing ... (witness reported anal penetration, masturbation, fondling and use of violence).... I said I would run away. I tried to stop him, he would beat you very severely with a strap. One time I remember next day I was very sore, I couldn’t walk or nothing, I had to stay in bed, he said I was sick or something.

Nine (9) witnesses reported sexual abuse by both religious and lay care staff. Five (5) religious staff in positions of authority were reported as abusers, including one religious Resident Manager who was the subject of three witnesses’ reports of sexual abuse. One lay care worker was reported by two witnesses to have sexually abused them, progressing from molestation to anal penetration. My second key worker ... named lay care worker... started to abuse me from an early age. He first brought me to the ... named place... room where younger boys were only allowed go accompanied by a staff member. He locked the door and raped me, he abused me in the dormitory where other boys slept, in disused rooms and in a ...named place... where staff could take boys for treats. The abuse happened about 3 times a week, whenever he was on duty, over a year and half.

The Committee heard evidence from nine witnesses, eight male and one female, of being sexually abused by eight male volunteer workers, seven of whom were named. One volunteer worker was the subject of two reports of sexual abuse. Witnesses described the male abusers as providing inducements such as outings from the Home, and promises of accommodation and employment following discharge. Two men who were regular visitors to the Home fondled me, they did it to other boys, we all learned to avoid them. One of these men, a constant nightly visitor to help with homework, took me home. He offered me a roof over my head when I left, I had nowhere else to go, there followed sexual abuse ... (rape)... over years.... • There was a visitor... (named volunteer worker) ... who used to come and take you out every 3 or 4 weeks, 3 or 4 boys, they...(lay Resident Managers).. would pick you out, all delighted to have an outing. He would make us all one by one pee in a milk bottle and then fondle us and would afterwards give us a sweet each and tell us we were good boys... • (Named volunteer worker) ... a visitor who took boys out at weekends. We would have to share his bed, then he would masturbate me and try to get me to masturbate him back.

Thirty five (35) witnesses, 23 male and 12 female, reported that their education was neglected. Ten (10) witnesses reported being removed from the classroom to work in or on behalf of the Home and that they were denied any further opportunity to avail of formal schooling ‘I worked out on the farm picking potatoes and carrots – there was no education there’. A witness who reported that she was sent to an external second-level school and was later abruptly withdrawn by the religious Sister stated the following: I loved school, I really, really loved school ... I got as far as ..., I prepared for my Intermediate. I got good reports and everything before that and then the nun suddenly said “you’re not going to stay on in school anymore. Your mother’s not sending any money for books” and they took me out and sent me to work in ... named hospital ... as a cleaner. I was so distraught, that killed me....

Thirteen (13) witnesses reported that they left the Children’s Home with no education or literacy skills. A small number of witnesses reported that their particular learning difficulties were not assessed and that no educational assistance was available to them. They also reported being either ridiculed or ignored as a result of their learning difficulties. I received no education at all. I was seen as retarded because I had ... medical condition.... I cannot now read or write. Silence was the daily code, you were never allowed speak to others. I spent most of the time working hard from an early age. I had no friends and no outside contact with anyone.

Witnesses from three Homes commented on both the lack of supervision of volunteer workers and other visitors, and the unsupervised access of ex-residents to the Home. In the absence of critical overseeing of staff, visitors and co-residents, witnesses reported they were abused both within the Home and on outings. A male witness reported ‘the most serious neglect was to be sent out at weekends to ...X..., a volunteer, without any supervision or follow-up, where I was sexually abused’.

Thirteen (13) witnesses, six male and seven female, commented that when they were ill or injured they did not receive adequate medical attention. One female witness described being left unattended in the infirmary with an injury to her hand. A male witness stated that his nose was broken and he was unconscious following an assault by a member of religious staff, he commented that he was removed from the classroom by the Resident Manager but that he received no attention for his injuries. Witnesses from three Children’s Homes reported that staff from both within the institution and from external agencies neglected to investigate the cause of their injuries. They reported attending hospitals, doctors and clinics where they were rarely spoken to directly about how they received the injuries with which they were presenting. You got injuries that would mend themselves. I went to the doctor he would not hear tell of it, he’d say “you’ll be ok after a few days”.

Many witnesses commented on the lack of preparation or planning for discharge and reported that their transition to independent living was traumatic. Witnesses who had no family contact during their time in the Children’s Homes or who had been reared entirely in institutional settings reported feeling bewildered when discharged. A female witness described her experience on leaving: ‘I didn’t know how to behave in a household ... I hated it. I didn’t know how to behave in somebody’s home.’

Thirty five (35) witnesses, 21 male and 14 female, reported being fearful and feeling under a constant threat of abuse. Twenty nine (29) of these reports referred to six Homes where accounts were heard of a pervasive fear of physical and sexual abuse: ‘You were all tensed up all the time. It was the beatings ... thinking of the beating. It was the waiting instead of getting it done there and then, the waiting, it was agony’. Witnesses commented on the long-term negative impact of growing up in an environment dominated by fear, trying to please others, avoid condemnation and witnessing others being abused.

Twenty eight (28) witnesses, 18 male and 10 female, reported being exposed to constant criticism, hostility, personal ridicule, verbal abuse, and the denigration of their families. Witnesses reported that they were ridiculed about their family circumstances of poverty, parental alcohol abuse and the marital status of their parents. Lone mothers were reported to be the subject of particular denigration: ‘I was told my mother was a prostitute and that I belonged in the gutter.’ Me and my brother were told by staff not to play with other children who had families because we were bastards who should have been drowned when we were born. Our mother visited once a year, we were told not to say anything to her or we would get it ...(abuse)... worse. • Before Sr ...X... beat me I would have to carry my sheets across through the house in public to the laundry. She would say “the devil is inside you, ...(you)... can’t go to Mass until you have a bath”. She mocked me because I was an orphan and I was not allowed opportunities like other children.

Eight (8) witnesses, five male and three female, discharged from Homes in all decades, described various forms of emotional abuse associated with bed-wetting and personal hygiene. They described being made to carry their wet and soiled sheets in public, being called derogatory names, and having their faces forcibly rubbed into wet sheets. Other punishments for bed-wetting reported by a small number of witnesses was the humiliation of having their heads shaved and being forced to stand in front of religious statues for long periods. Four (4) witnesses described being humiliated by the practice of staff commenting on their soiled underwear in front of co-residents. We were punished if our pants were soiled although often there was no sanitary towels, there was no preparation for periods, and you were told it...(menstruation)... was the Virgin Mary’s gift.

Twenty seven (27) witnesses, 12 male and 15 female, reported an overall absence of affection or any kindness towards them; they commented on the lack of awareness or understanding of their need for affection and stability as children. ‘There was no understanding of our needs. You had nobody to turn to, you were on your own.’

The lack of emotional support or comfort in dealing with the death of a parent or sibling was described by a small number of witnesses. One witness reported that on returning from his father’s funeral he was told to ‘stop snivelling ... he is dead. Now you have no one to go to with your tales’.