2,143 entries for Witness Testimony

In the majority of instances the abuse was reported to have occurred in the classrooms, corridors, and within the general school environs. Witnesses commonly reported being physically abused as a punishment for mistakes in lessons, not giving the correct answer in class, being unable to do school work to the required standard or for no reason they could understand. A witness described being punched, kicked and hit for failing to give a correct answer in class. Witnesses also reported being punched, beaten and stood on in the context of being sexually abused or for disclosing sexual abuse. There was a priest in ...named boarding school.... I was tiny, he beat the living crap out of me from the time I went in, for 3 years. He was Fr... X ... (Principal).... He was a bully and picked on me for no reason, he battered me for fun.

Witnesses described being beaten with leather straps, canes, wooden dusters, cricket bats, sally rods, and wooden sticks including chair legs and map poles. They reported being beaten on their hands, legs, on both covered and bare buttocks, and while held down on the desk. In addition to being hit with implements, male and female witnesses also reported being punched in the face, hit around the head, back and shoulders, pulled and lifted by their hair and ears, and kicked to the ground. The following is a report of physical abuse by a male religious teacher: He’d grab you by the hair like that and he’d pull you up to the blackboard by the hair. He’d grab me by the nose, eventually my nose was broken, the doctor confirmed for me the nose was broken .... He’d slap you on the bottom, pants was down, 4 slaps and he would always go up higher on the spine for the last 2 slaps. He’d tell you to pull trousers down and if you did not pull it down he’d pull it down ...

Witnesses commented that pupils who appeared to have learning difficulties or were from disadvantaged backgrounds were beaten and punished more severely than others. One witness described a pupil with learning difficulties being beaten regularly on the back of the hands for not holding his hand up high enough. Another witness stated that ‘...it depended on your family, or where you came from, ... maybe people that were not that well-educated, or that were not that assertive...’ were more vulnerable to abuse.

Ten (10) male witnesses reported being distressed while in the class of specific teachers in primary school due to the constant, and at times severe, physical abuse. They described a general atmosphere of fear where physical abuse was unpredictable, for reasons they could not understand, and at times in association with sexual abuse. Four (4) male witnesses gave accounts of being beaten or kicked to the ground. One witness stated that he and another pupil were often selected for beatings because they were the biggest boys in the class ‘I was beaten into a heap on the floor for no reason except my height’. Another witness reported that on an occasion when a leather strap was not available the teacher tore the wooden roller from the wall map, broke it in half and hit everyone in the class.

Two (2) of the above witnesses who gave evidence of severe physical abuse described constant beatings. One stated that the teacher insisted that he sat at the end of a row of desks and as he passed said; ‘Are you paying attention? ... and with that his foot would go out and he’d give me a kick on the shin’. The witness reported the Brother said prior to beating him on the bare buttocks ‘I hate your guts. I’ll give you something to remember for the rest of your life’. The other witness stated that he and his fellow pupils were either made to stand at the back of the class or lie across their desks waiting to be beaten.

Thirteen (13) witnesses reported to their parents or others that they were physically beaten in association with sexual abuse or in the context of disclosing sexual abuse. One witness described his experience of persistent physical and sexual abuse: While this...(sexual abuse)... was going on I used to get some pretty bad beatings from him in the classroom. One day he was beating me really badly across the back and on the shoulders with the leather and I remember wetting my trousers with the fright of it... I could never tell anyone, no one would really believe you... and I started getting some bad beatings in the yard and the cloakroom from other boys and that was it. I just kept moving, stayed away from everyone as much as I could.

Of those witnesses, 22 described being sexually molested in public situations, including hallways, corridors and classrooms. Witnesses described teachers fondling their breasts and genitalia while reading to the class. A number of female witnesses described male teachers, including a school Principal, moving from pupil to pupil, at the back of the class on the pretext of helping or checking schoolwork while fondling their breasts. ‘He would lean over you, down on top of you, you can’t even think.’ The following witness accounts refer to abuse in primary schools: I was around 10 or 10 and a half, it was ...named primary school.... He’d ...(Br X)... used ask me up to the desk, he’d start putting his hand up my trousers fondling my genitals and backside and he would stand up in front of all the pupils who were about the same age as myself. ... He’d stand up behind me and rub himself up against me at the back. This went on for about a year that I was in that class, it happened everyday, maybe twice a day.... • We went to the local school ...named primary school... there. We grew up with the fact that the Principal was always very interested in girls. We came to accept it as normal even though deep down in our heart we knew it wasn’t normal. Growing up through those years, trying to avoid him.... We’d sneak in in the morning and try to hide ... and sneak down to our classroom without confronting him. In the morning he would expect you to come up and say “Dia is Muire dhuit”, and hold us, as girls, in between his legs and you know, hold us into him. ... The same would happen with play.... He’d hold you into himself.... You would try to run and he would catch you ... hiding from him, you would be ashamed of yourself if you were the one picked on....There was a lot of fondling that you didn’t want. You ran and looked for cover, dodged at every opportunity. • This Brother, I can’t remember his name ... after he saw I was interested in learning about the equipment used to take me into a corner behind the stage where he would take my penis out and play with it and then I’d have to take his out ... (witness described oral/genital contact) ... It just went on like that...

A total of nine witnesses, seven male and two female, reported being raped while pupils in primary or second-level schools by seven named male religious teaching staff, one lay teacher, older unnamed pupils and by a visiting priest. Witnesses reported being raped when they were isolated from their peer group and other staff, including when they were locked into classrooms, when they were taken away from home overnight by religious teaching staff, when visited in hospital, and in the dormitory of a boarding school. One witness who reported being raped when taken from the classroom gave the following account: He took down his trousers and raped me. There was blood ... he took out his hanky and wiped it off and folded it and put it in his pocket. I was very quiet, I said nothing. He brought me back to the class, I could hardly walk, I sat down beside ...named classmate... and was asking her if she had this test, he heard me talking to her and he ... he hit me .... I had never been hit before.... I was terrified.

Five (5) witnesses, four male and one female, reported digital vaginal and anal penetration. The reports described such abuse taking place ‘quietly’ at the back of the class and in private locations when they were coerced to comply with the abuse either by physical force or explicit verbal threats. In one instance a witness described the religious teaching staff member in a primary school putting a cloak over his head and holding him close with the belt of his cassock while abusing him. Other reported experiences of abuse included: It began, I thought the priest was just being friendly, arms around you kissing you. He used to come into the showers after a game.... First of all I should say I didn’t know what sexual abuse was at that time, I didn’t know what physical abuse was. I might use the phrase “he hit me”. • He ...(Fr X)... he used to come to the dormitory at night and he would attempt oral sex, I didn’t know what he was doing, like kissing and all this.... The next thing he’d say “I hope you haven’t got any dirty photographs in your locker”. I didn’t even know what a dirty photo was at the time. The next thing he started showing me pornography photographs, he’d say he found them in so-so’s locker. It wasn’t homosexual nature, it was heterosexual. I couldn’t tell my mother, the priest could do no wrong, she said “a priest wouldn’t do a thing like that”. ... He was waiting for me and attempted a serious assault ...witness described attempted rape....

Six (6) witnesses reported that sexual abuse, including oral/genital abuse and masturbation, was associated with physical violence. A number of those witnesses described being forcefully coerced to submit to sexual molestation. Seven (7) other witnesses stated that they were beaten if they disclosed or resisted the assault. A male witness who reported being sexually abused by a teacher stated that threats not to tell were reinforced by physical violence ‘he...(Br X)... gave me terrible beatings, he destroyed my life’.

Six (6) witnesses described being sexually abused when taken out of the school. Five (5) of those witnesses stated that they were taken away overnight by teachers. This abuse included masturbation, fondling and attempted rape. Three (3) of the male witnesses reported that the teachers became friendly with their parents and were allowed to take them away overnight for trips during which they were abused. One male witness reported being blindfolded and being forced to touch the genitalia of a lay male teacher who had taken him to his home and locked him in a room. The abuse reported in these instances was extensive and continued over a period of years. Two (2) witnesses who reported being sexually abused over a number of years in primary and second-level schools described their experiences: He ...(Br X)... took me to ...named isolated place.... I can remember the place vividly, there were lots of hedges, protruding rocks and that sort of thing. He would be fondling me, he’d take my trousers down, he turned me around and sodomised me, he did other things as well. Br ...X... he had a camera, he photographed myself naked, primarily around the genitals.... It was horrendous, absolutely horrendous up there with him. • He ...named lay Principal... would give me tasks to do and follow me into a room or a corner. ... He opened his trousers, masturbated himself and held on to me with the other hand.... On another occasion ... he pushed me into a cubicle, took down his trousers and underwear... witness described attempted rape.

Six (6) witnesses described being selected by a teacher to help with tasks after school, being given treats, extra tuition and other privileges. These witnesses reported being abused including by oral/genital contact, masturbation and anal rape. One female witness reported sexual abuse that was perpetrated both in the school and at outside venues when a teacher took inappropriate photographs, and allowed his male friends to molest the pupils. Aspects of the abuse perpetrated by a Principal was described ‘he put his arms around me and pulled me close ...breathing on you...he kissed me on the lips. He would lean over girls to help with homework, everyone disliked it’. Other male and female witnesses stated: He had a pupil every year that he picked out to collect the roll book; they were always seen as the teacher’s pet, he was the Principal. There were 2 other teachers in the school, who were women; they were in the junior classes. I had him in 5th and 6th class. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one but I was that person one year. I had to collect the roll book and when I was coming back he would be waiting for me in the corridor. • He gave me ... (gifts)... to give to my dad. At that stage he was getting to know the family.... He brought me into town, into ...named hotel.... That was after he got to know my mum and dad. All I can remember was going up a stairs, a passage.

Two (2) male witnesses who described being exposed to ridicule and humiliation in front of the class gave the following accounts of their experiences: The rubbish bucket was a thing that was put on your head and left on it all day, and you were left standing in the corner. The headmaster came in ...(to the classroom and said)... “He’s going nowhere and don’t you know he never will go anywhere, don’t you know his mother wasn’t married”. • Br ...X ... constantly picked on me in front of the whole class.... He made disparaging comments about my clothes, hygiene and general appearance. He did not like me, he beat me from one end of the school to the other and dragged me about by the ears and hair.

Two (2) witnesses described being humiliated by the attentions of a teacher who sexually abused them in public places. Others recounted the humiliation of being beaten on their bare buttocks in front of the other pupils, or being ostracised by being made to kneel or stand while being physically abused in public by their teacher, as one witness explained: He was cruel ... he knew I wasn’t bright and I knew he knew I wasn’t bright so whenever he wanted a victim ... he’d bring you up and slap you across the face in front of everyone.

A number of witnesses who reported being sexually abused also described an accompanying sense of guilt and shame that was reinforced by being told that behaviour of a sexual nature was sinful. One female witness who reported being raped by a visiting priest said ‘he told me I would go to hell, I thought maybe he was right’. A male witness described his distress in this regard: It was the mortal sin of it ...distressed ... you had all this stuff about being prepared to die and dying in your sleep. Even still I don’t go to sleep, would be 2 or 3 in the morning. I think maybe it’s connected in some way in having to go into Mass the next morning and go to Communion, that was an even bigger sin, I already had a sin on my soul, a mortal sin ... distressed ...