Traumatised Scot Tells of Horrific Abuse As a Child at the Hands of Priests at Residential School
By James Moncur
A TRAUMATISED Scot has told how a paedophile Catholic brother trafficked him to Ireland to be raped by up to five men. David Sharp believes some of his rapists were priests. He says Christian Brother Frank Ryan began preying on him at a residential school when he was 10, grooming him and then subjecting him to sexual abuse in his room and sadistic beatings in a basement shower block. “This man told me when to breathe and when not to breathe,” he told the Record. “He had control of everything I did. And when he told me to go to his room, I went.” David also told how Ryan took him to Ireland by plane during the holidays – “more than once”. He recalled: “He took me into a room at a house with other men, who took turns to rape me. “I can’t say for sure if they were priests or Christian Brothers. But in my head, I can still see the small room, with a single bed and up to five men.” David is now demanding a public inquiry into all cases of institutional abuse in Scotland, and an end to the three-year time bar which often stops victims pursuing their abusers in the civil courts. Labour MSP Graeme Pearson is backing his call for an inquiry. David, now 55, said Ryan abused him at St Ninian’s, a school in Falkland, Fife, run by the notorious Catholic order sometimes known as the Irish Christian Brothers. By then, he had spent almost a decade in care. His mum died of TB when he was a baby and his vulnerable dad could not cope, and he was placed at the Nazareth House home in Kilmarnock when he was a year old. David has fond memories of his time with the nuns there, although others have complained of abuse at Nazareth House homes. But his happiness ended abruptly when he was moved to St Ninian’s. David, originally from Glasgow, said: “I’d been there less than a month when one night I was woken by Ryan. He put his hand over my mouth and told me to follow him. “He took me into a small room with a large double bed and a small armchair with a dim light in the corner. “He sat in the chair and asked if I was tired. I said I was. “He told me to sit on his lap, which I did, and I fell asleep. When I woke I found I was naked, and so was he. “But he was just cuddling me and telling me everything was OK and not to be afraid. He held me close and I fell asleep feeling warm and safe.” Ryan’s pretence at kindness was a pretext for sexual abuse. David believes he used his need for love to make him a victim. He said: “I had never experienced any kind of love or affection. Here was someone showing me affection and love, and making me do things to him that made him feel good. “He was telling me he loved me. This made me feel good, and that what I was doing was right.” But as well as Ryan’s sinister “love”, there was horrifying, brutal violence. David said: “The basement was converted into showers, where we all used to go down each night in the freezing winter. This is where most of the violence occurred. “He would pull me out of the line and tell me to wait down in these shower rooms until he came back down. “Even now, 35 years later, I still get flashbacks of being hung by a piece of rope round my neck on to the shower, and my hands tied behind my back, and him beating me with a belt.” David had to spend his holidays at St Ninian’s while the other boys went home. It was then, he says, that Ryan trafficked him to Ireland. His case is in the hands of police, but he has been told convictions for historic abuse are very difficult to secure. Ryan, now dead, is beyond justice. And David cannot bring a civil action against those who should have protected him because the law says such cases must be brought within three years. Many other victims have faced the same problem. David wants the time bar lifted for cases such as his. And he is also organising a March For Justice, when he and his supporters will walk from the Scottish Borders to Holyrood later in the year. He has enlisted the help of Pearson, who led a Holyrood debate on care home child abuse last week, for the campaign. The Labour MSP says many other countries have held national inquiries into care home abuse, and Scotland must do the same. He said: “If we have hundreds of survivors who reflect the pain and angst David has described, the Government is duty bound to respond.” Community safety and legal affairs minister Roseanna Cunningham said the Government had given ?6.2million to the Survivor Scotland Strategy to support victims, and were setting up a National Confidential Forum to give former care residents a voice. While the politicians study the issues, David is left with his memories. Even now, awful images flood into his mind every time he closes his eyes. He said: “ I try to picture if I was ever happy or even sad, but all I see in my mind is a lifeless existence. The whole period just feels blank and very dark. “I don’t remember having any friends or happy times – just numbness and darkness. I can only imagine I must have learned to blank the pain out. “My life was ruined by people who were supposed to be looking after me. I would not doubt that other children also fell victim to abuse.” The Christian Brothers have been heavily implicated in the abuse scandals which shook the Catholic Church. They have been at the centre of inquiries in Canada, Australia, Ireland, America and the UK. Millions of pounds has been paid to hundreds of victims. The Christian Brothers had two schools in Scotland - St Ninian’s, which was shut down in the late 70s, and the Scotus Academy in Edinburgh, which closed in 1977. Their spokesman, Edmund Garvey, said last night: “Our policy as Christian Brothers is to connect with every person who alleges wrongdoing or abuse by members of the Congregation. “I completely regret, and am appalled by, the allegations being made by Mr Sharp. I will take an immediate and personal interest in his case along with the members of my staff.”
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