Case file 1
 

St. John's National School,
Sligo, Ireland. (1967 – 1977)
 

During the early 1970’s a national school based in Sligo on the West Coast of Ireland was a center for a large group of child sex abusers. The school had approximately 500 students in 12 classes – 40 to 60 pupils per class. The Marist Brothers ran the school. The children ranged in age from six to 12 and came from all walks of life. Many were from regular middle class backgrounds while some had to work a regular job after school slaughtering pigs, delivering bread or newspapers to keep money coming in for their families. Many of these working children wound up illiterate at the end of the junior schooling. Some wound up as the victim of a perverse group of pedophiles.
 

Over the years, five of those twelve teachers – some brothers, some lay teachers – were convicted of repeated and multiple charges of sexual abuse of their students. One teacher had an initial 500 counts of child sex abuse against him In one case the abuse came to light after the student murdered his father who he suspects had been accepting money in return for letting his son get abused.

 

While exceptional in its concentration of abusers, this is an example of what can go on right under parent’s noses. It is also great demonstration of how pedophiles groom and choose their victims, preying on the weak, the quiet and withdrawn pupils with problems at home. The perpetrators claim that there was no collusion between them, no sex ring.  A judge described their targeting of boys as taking “advantage of vulnerability, someone who was poor, hungry, neglected, deprived, weak and from deplorable home circumstances.” Judge Kennedy describing Martin Meaney at sentencing 01/30/08.

 

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. It happens everyday to some extent even in a town like yours. You don’t know about it because we live in a state of unconscious social denial – “it’ll never happen here” and can miss the sometimes glaring signals that abuse is taking place. Moreover we miss the abuse because these young victims are bound to their abusers by a bond of secrecy. Most never tell of their abuse and those that do, do so long after the episodes have ended.

 

I attended St. Johns during these horrible day protected by Marist Brother Bonaventure who kept a tight rein on his students – none of my fellow students was every harmed to the best of my knowledge. Brother Bonaventure was not involved with this abuse in any way and was respected and admired by his students. Whether his protection was conscious or unconscious we’ll never know, I do know the boys in his class felt safe. All 64 of us.  

 

Take the time to read these articles – you’ll learn a lot about the mindset of those who prey on our children, of their lack of conscience, of their position of power in society and in they child’s world. They could just as easily have been music teachers, scout troops leaders, religious instructors, athletic coaches.

 

Full details of the case are covered in the following articles. Email me any questions. info@abusewatch.net

 

1/31/08   Sex abuse school faces avalanche of lawsuits

 

01/30/08   Fourth teacher at school convicted of sex abuse jailed

 

01/30/08  'A total breach of trust between teacher and pupil’—Judge - Martin Meaney

 

01/23/08  It must never happen again

 

01/23/08  'I have so much hatred for him for what he did to me’

 

01/23/08  'I saw him as a person I could target’ – former Marist Brother on victim

 

07/27/05  Sex offender hospitalized after neck slashed in attack - Brother Christopher, Christopher Cosgrove

 

07/27/05  'He got twelve years - we got a life sentence’

 

06/29/05  Shocked Bishop in offer to meet victims, families - Patrick Curran 193 counts

 

06/08/05  'Unfathomable’ damage inflicted on pupils by former teacher – Brother Agnellus, Peter White

 

06/01/05  Third ex-teacher at Sligo school in sex abuse case

 

06/01/05  'At high risk of suicide if jailed'

 

06/01/05 Hung boys to coat hook on back of classroom door

 

07/27/05  Victims find some solace as they see their abuser jailed

 

03/09/05  Former Marist Brother rejects jury's verdict in sex abuse case

 

03/09/05  Former Marist Brother receives eight year jail term

 

03/09/05  'Abuse has left a mark on each victim'

 

01/19/05 'Locked in press so often a light would be needed'

 

01/19/05  Abused in toilet on day of confirmation - claim

 

01/19/05  Verdict today in sex abuse case against former Brother - Brother Christopher,
Christopher Cosgrove

 

01/19/05  'I never received any complaints' - former headmaster

 

02/06/02  Massive sexual abuse probe comes to a halt

 

More here www.sligochampion.ie – search for 'child abuse' or 'St. Johns'