A former Christian brother has been found guilty of historic sex offences against schoolboys. Paul Dunleavy (88), of Glen Road in west Belfast, was on trial for 32 counts of indecent assault, one of attempted buggery and four of gross indecency.
The offences were committed at Christian Brother schools in Belfast, Co Armagh and Co Down while he was a teacher and later principal. During the trial at Belfast Crown Court the jury were directed by Judge Patrick Lynch KC to find him not guilty on one count of indecent assault.
Following about five hours of deliberations over two days, the jury of six men and six women today returned unanimous guilty verdicts on the 31 counts of indecent assault, one of attempted buggery and two counts of gross indecency.
After further deliberations, the foreman told the court that they had reached majority guilty verdicts of 11-1 on the two remaining counts of gross indecency. As the verdicts were read out, victims were seen crying in the public gallery and were comforted by family members. Dunleavy, dressed in a red coat and who listened to the proceedings through headphones, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.
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The offences were committed on dates between 1964 and 1991 against nine male complainants while Dunleavy worked as either a teacher or headmaster at four schools in Belfast, Newry, Co Down and Co Armagh.
Dunleavy was a teacher at Armagh Christian Brothers Primary School between 1960 and 1966. He later moved to the Abbey Christian Brothers Primary School in Newry from 1966 to 1973 before returning to the school in 1987 as headmaster until his retirement in 1998.
Dunleavy also taught at St Aiden’s Christian Brothers Primary school off the Whiterock Road in west Belfast between 1973-77 later becoming its headmaster between 1980 and 1985. He was also headmaster at Gortnamona Secondary School in west Belfast between 1985-87.
The jury heard evidence from the nine victims in the case who were called forward by the prosecution to give their testimony. One victim was in his 11-Plus year at Armagh Christian Brothers Primary School around 1965/66. Boy A told police that Dunleavy took him to the showers in a nearby secondary school where he was “told to strip off and take a shower’' while the defendant watched.
The victim claimed Dunleavy would then “dry him off’' before sexually abusing him. He told police that this happened “on a regular basis’'.
The boy claimed that Dunleavy sometimes taught him and when that happened he would be held back after class and sexually abused. Other victims were abused by Dunleavy in the headmaster’s office, in a school store room and in the parochial house. One victim recalled being told to “pick a bar of chocolate and go back to class”, after being subjected to sexual abuse, while another told the jury how he was “beaten to a pulp’' and sexually abused by the “evil, evil, evil man”.
In June 2023 Dunleavy was sentenced to ten years in prison for 23 separate historical child sex offences.
Judge Lynch said that he would pass sentence on Friday, October 25th. The defendant was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
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