IRELAND
One in Four
by Anne Lucey of The Irish Times
A jury yesterday cleared a Christian Brother formerly attached to St Joseph's CBS Industrial School in Tralee of eight counts of sexual complaints by a former inmate.
The jury of six women and six men unanimously returned a verdict of not guilty on the second day of the trial at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee.
The now 50-year-old man who lives in London said he would wet the bed at night rather than use the toilet when the Brother was on dormitory duty. He alleged that the indecent assaults and gross indecency had taken place in a storeroom off the kitchen on four separate occasions, although he did not have specific dates. He had been sent as a 12-year-old to St Joseph's by District Court Order, because he had 'skipped' school.
The man cannot read and suffers from depression. The Brother denied four charges of indecent assault and four charges of gross indecency on four occasions between April, 1967 and June 30th, 1970. He was transferred to the school in 1964, about three years before the boy. He did not remember the boy.
Posted by kshaw at January 27, 2005 02:35 PM