More than 100 complaints of sexual abuse have been made against staff at a special school in Limerick, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
It was the sixth day of the trial of a 48-year-old married father of two from Co Tipperary who has pleaded not guilty to four charges of sexual assault on two mentally-impaired youths in Limerick, Clare and in his own home on dates between September 1st 1994 and March 31st 1997.
Mr Martin Giblin SC, defending a teacher who is charged with sexually assaulting two mentally-impaired youths, claimed that one girl had accused 31 people and another girl had accused 17.
Supt Anthony Kennelly agreed with Mr Giblin that one or two people had made a large number of complaints, but he denied any knowledge of an allegation that a garda and two social workers were present when some acts of sexual abuse occurred.
Supt Kennelly also agreed that an allegation of rape had been made against Limerick solicitor Mr John Devane in the school once it emerged that he was representing the man accused in the case. This complaint had later been declared unfounded.
The superintendent denied that the investigation had become a "witch-hunt" and that it became necessary for the gardaí to produce "a head on a plate".
Supt Kennelly disagreed with Mr Giblin that the officers investigating the case did not have the necessary qualifications to interview people with a mental handicap.
Mr Giblin said that three doctors would tell the court that mentally-handicapped people should not be interviewed by persons who were not qualified, since this could cause them damage.
Supt Kennelly did not agree and added that members of the National Sexual Assault Unit had travelled to Limerick from Dublin and had approved the manner in which the investigation was conducted.
Earlier, Mr Giblin compared the treatment of his client to that suffered by the McBrearty family in Co Donegal. He asked Sgt John Kelly, who arrested the accused man at his home, if it was becoming normal practice for gardaí to conduct arrests in as frightening a manner as possible.
He asked him if he had been reading newspaper reports of the Morris tribunal, but Judge Yvonne Murphy intervened and told Mr Giblin that there was no need to bring that or the McBrearty case into this investigation.
Sgt Kelly denied that when he called to the accused man's home on June 16th 1998 to arrest him, he had marched down the hallway of the bungalow and thumped his bedroom door, shouting: "What's keeping you? Get out here." He also denied that the accused man was arrested in front of his two children, saying that he saw no children in the house and that the arrest was carried out in a fair and quiet manner.
Mr Giblin suggested to Garda Brian Broderick, who was in charge when the accused man was taken to the station, that he remarked to him when he was bringing him back to his cell: "Perverts like you don't deserve food. You should be locked in jail and the key thrown away."
Garda Broderick said that this would have been highly inappropriate. If he heard any of his colleagues making a comment like that, he would have to report it.
The trial continues.