By Jim Cusack
Irish Independent
March 21, 2010
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/abuse-victims-legal-case-dragging-on-for-13-years-2106165.html
IRELAND -- Cardinal Brady has been fighting one of the longest-running claims in the history of the law courts, writes Jim Cusack
CARDINAL Brady has been fighting a compensation case brought by one of Brendan Smyth's victims since 1997, the year after he became Catholic Primate of All Ireland.
 |
| CARDINAL'S SIN: Catholic Primate Sean Brady after a recent press conference in Rome |
The victim was raped and brutalised by Smyth for five years between 1970 and 1975 when she was a girl, court documents state. She never made any complaint at the time, out of fear. She subsequently emigrated but continued to suffer severe mental distress and physical disorders throughout her life, including the 13 years that her case has been stalled in the High Court.
This is the case that led to the emergence of the cardinal's involvement in the silencing of the two boy victims in 1975, revealed in last week's Sunday Independent.
The case is now one of the longest-running compensation claims in the history of the law courts, and lawyers who are representing the woman have complained of delays, sometimes running into years, and "incomplete" discovery of documents from Cardinal Brady's side.
An affidavit lodged in the High Court by solicitor Brian Coady, of Navan, Co Meath, on June 13, 2008, accuses the cardinal and two other named members of the hierarchy of failing to disclose documents despite two orders by the High Court and missing deadlines set by the High Court in May and November 2002.
Mr Coady sought non-party disclosure of documents relating to Brendan Smyth from the garda commissioner in 2006 from the investigations carried out by the gardai after Smyth was extradited and imprisoned in Northern Ireland. Smyth was also prosecuted in the Republic and died in prison in 1997.
It was as a result of this disclosure by the then-Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy that Cardinal Brady's involvement in the interviews with the two boys and vows of secrecy sworn by them at the behest of clergy in 1975 emerged. The documents released by the Garda Commissioner also contained statements by the clerical whistleblower, Fr Bruno Mulvihill, who made repeated attempts from 1968 onwards to have Brendan Smyth exposed and prosecuted.
Bruno Mulvihill, who resigned from the priesthood as a result of his pleas to hierarchy about Smyth being ignored, moved to Germany after assisting police and journalists expose Brendan Smyth. He died in a car accident in Germany some years ago.
Among the documents discovered in the garda files was a letter that was sent by Bruno Mulvihill on November 1, 1974, to the then-Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, the Vatican's representative in Ireland.
There was a second similar letter on the same date to the then-diocesan Bishop of Kilmore Francis McKiernan outlining Smyth's sexual abuse of children. Both McKiernan and Alibrandi are dead.
Mulvihill had personally approached both the nuncio and bishop at a celebration in Kilnacrott Abbey in the summer of 1974 and told them about Smyth but, he said, they both ignored him. He then decided to formally write to both men.
Bruno Mulvihill's statement to gardai in June 1995 reads: "In the summer of 1974 a function commemorating the 15th centenary anniversary of the Premonstratensians (the early monastic order which subsequently became the Norbertines, of which Bruno Mulvihill and Smyth were members) in Ireland was held in Kilnacrott Abbey.
Among the prominent guests were the Papal Nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Alibrandi and local diocesean Bishop of Kilmore Bishop Francis McKiernan. I spoke with both of them separately concerning the serious situation in Kilnacrott Abbey as a religious house.
"Archbishop Alibrandi was not interested in listening to my complaints. The major complaint that I mentioned to him was the impending scandal of unforeseeable dimensions concerning Fr Brendan Smyth. Because of the unsatisfactory response I decided to, at a later date, put the matter in writing. After the jubilee mass I spoke to Bishop McKiernan and told him the same as I told Archbishop Alibrandi. He showed no interest in my complaint. For this reason I also put my complaint into him in writing at a later date."
Mulvihill said that he had previously seen a document sent from the Vatican in 1968 instructing the Norbertine Order to compel Brendan Smyth to stay within the grounds of the Abbey at Kilnacrott, Co Cavan, and to have no priestly, or any, duties outside. He said he found the letter in a drawer and said it was never acted on.
It was only when the plaintiff's solicitor, armed with the documents disclosed by the garda commissioner, wrote again to the cardinal's lawyers at the end of 2006 that the cardinal finally admitted in 2007 that he had been present at the interview of the two boys. A further two years of legal exchanges took place until the plaintiff's amended statement of claim was opened in the High Court last December.
This contained a statement explaining the extent of the personal injuries the plaintiff, who was now living in north America, suffered and continues to suffer.
It says: "The plaintiff was subjected to years of unrelenting sexual abuse which caused and continued to cause major depression, psychological trauma, sleep disturbance and associated symptomology."
It said she presented at the Department of Psychiatry in the city where she lives upon referral by her family doctor. It adds: "Her medical advisers deemed it to be significant that the plaintiff's daughter had reached the age at which the plaintiff had suffered sexual abuse.
She complained of sleep disturbance, nightmares, reduced energy, mood swings, flashbacks and hyper vigilance. The plaintiff also suffered from a sense of estrangement, an absent sex life and distress even at the mention of sexuality. Her symptoms further included fear, nervousness, diarrhoea, choking sensations, muscle tension, increased heart rate and breathing difficulties. The plaintiff complained of thoughts of death, loss of pressure, concentration, interest and appetite.
"She avoids closeness to people, including her husband, and is fearful of rejection. Her marriage and quality of life are greatly affected. The plaintiff was deeply distressed and overwhelmed by sexual abuse from the time she was 14 to 20 years of age.
"On examination, her most disturbing symptom concerned years of sleep disturbance, flashbacks of abuse and awakening with nightmares. She displayed intense fears regarding sexual intimacy, the cause of which was unknown to her husband. The plaintiff experienced difficulties in speaking up for herself, repression of emotion, estrangement, periods of panic and hyper vigilance. Her history of sexual abuse affected her life in every way."
The statement went on: "Her premier reason for leaving Ireland was to protect her children from the kind of abuse she had experienced. She also says she experiences intense distress regarding sex, intense anxiety, flashbacks of abuse and dissociative periods. This occurs not only when she is sexually intimate but when any sight or smell reminds her of abuse.
"Having experienced abuse by a priest she does not see organised religion as a resource nor a place of safety, comfort or justice.
"Her treatment has consisted of long-term individual psychotherapy, psychotherapy groups and pharmacological care. The plaintiff recognises that she will likely continue to deal with her symptoms for the rest of her life.
"Her complaints are continuing and are severe. The right is hereby reserved to furnish further details for personal injuries when same become available."
The case continues into its 14th year.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.