A man cut off his penis after he had been sexually abused by a Rosminian brother at a special needs school in Clonmel more than 20 years ago.
Alan McNeill told Clonmel Circuit Court he cut off his penis and applied hundreds of incisions to his body with a razor blade because of the abuse he had suffered.
With his head lowered and in a barely audible voice, McNeill said he forgave now former brother Sean Barry: "I have been through torture and hell. I have been bleeding Brother Barry out of my system for the last 20 years. He has now spoken the truth and has set me free. I cannot carry his cross any longer," he said.
McNeill, from Galway, said he had been in care from eight years of age in various homes. He was now serving a sentence for raping a boy. "I am as bad as he is", McNeill told the court. He was now married and has a small child.
After a nine-year sentence was imposed on Barry, the last three years of it suspended, McNeill said he was glad it was over. Commenting on the sentence, he felt Judge Joseph Mathews had been fair and compassionate. McNeill, who gave permission to be identified as one of the victims, said he had one month left of his own prison sentence to serve.
Judge Mathews described McNeill as a man of extraordinary courage and bravery. His hope and forgiveness were an example to all, including the defendant. Much of what happened to McNeill in later life probably happened because he was not cared for as he should have been.
Barry (52), of Hillview, Waterford, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of buggery, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm at St Joseph's, Ferryhouse, Clonmel and at Woodstown, Co Waterford in 1977, 1978 land 1979. Twelve other charges were taken into consideration. The sexual abuse on a total of four boys started three years after Barry joined the religious order as a late vocation after his mother died. He was dismissed from the religious order in 1980 and married in 1984. He was now estranged from his wife, the court was told.
Judge Mathews said the victims were all vulnerable and weak and needed care, but were subjected to appalling acts of human degradation in unit A of Ferryhouse, a school for young offenders and boys from broken homes.
"Instead of receiving the hand of compassion, they were given the hurtful fist of degradation" said Judge Mathews who described the case as a human tragedy of titanic proportions. Judge Mathews said the carnage and chaos of the past had caught up with Barry. McNeill and others were preyed on remorselessly by a man whose duty it was to care for them. It was a tragedy that must be laid at the door of Barry.
"The tide has gone out on those appalling events of 20 years ago but the sea of suffering is still there, a haemorrhage of hurt still left," added Judge Matthews. A frail Barry, who had to use crutches to get to the witness box and was wearing splints on his joints because of aggressive arthritis, told the victims he was sorry for the hurt and pain he caused. He was left on his own to discipline a group of boys in Unit A and lost his temper and lost control of everything. He went to hospital shortly after the incidents.
He later was told that it would be inappropriate for him to remain in the Rosminian Order and was dismissed. He lived in Waterford and took up a job as a printer and married in 1984. The gardai approached him in 1996 and his wife left him last year.
Det Garda Sean O'Callaghan said in the winter of 1979 two boys from Ferryhouse ran away. When they were found they made allegations of sexual abuse against Barry. A year later Barry was dismissed from the order. In 1995 the matter was reported to the gardai by the Order and in 1996 complaints were made to the gardai by the victims. Barry admitted the abuses at that time. He was in charge of up to 40 boys in Unit A in the 12-13 year old age bracket.
Judge Mathews refused leave to appeal the severity of sentence.