Abuse "Rampant" at Boys" Home

UTV
September 29, 2014

http://www.u.tv/News/Abuse-rampant-at-boys-home/ecaeea3f-4dac-46d2-b87a-2fae75960a8d

A senior police officer described sexual abuse at a Co Down children's home ran by a Catholic order of brothers as "rampant", the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard.

On Monday, the inquiry was hearing evidence on the Rubane House in Kircubbin, which was run by the De La Salle religious order from 1951 to 1985.

It was a voluntary children's home for boys aged between 11 and 16 but from the 1970s it accepted children from the welfare authorities, predominantly from deprived parts of Belfast.

Rubane was the subject of a police investigation in the late 1990s.

Three De La Salle order brothers were charged but none were convicted after their trials did not go ahead because of legal issues.

The inquiry heard that in 1997, RUC Detective Chief Superintendent Eric Anderson, wrote a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions about sexual abuse of children at the home.

"Sexual abuse by a considerable number of the De La Salle brothers on the children and consequently between children is rampant," he said.

"The full horror of the abuse in this establishment is reflected in 41 files already submitted through your office to the DPP.

"I consider the complaints made to show it to be on a par with, if not worse than the the abuse at the Kincora children's home."

The PSNI began looking at allegations afresh in 2010.

Junior Counsel Joseph Aiken told the inquiry one in five of the Rubane's 1050 residents have made allegations of serious sexual or physical abuse.

He said the evidence the inquiry will hear from 55 former residents in the coming weeks will be harrowing and distressing.

Mr Aiken said: " Individuals have come forward to the inquiry with the desire, however difficult it may be for them, and want the opportunity to publicly explain what happened to them when they were supposed to have been in the care of the Diocese of Down and Connor and the De La Salle order."

The lawyer for the public inquiry said abuse ranged from boys being watched in the shower to serious sexual assault.

Victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth are among those who will speak to the inquiry.

Mr Aiken said: "A police investigation into Smyth in the early 1990s revealed that he had also abused children in both Rubane and Nazareth Lodge (in Belfast) in the late 1970s.

"He, as we will see, admitted much of that abuse and was convicted for it."

Mr Aiken said the abuse dated back to the 1950s and extended beyond that at the hands of Fr Smyth.

He said that the order now accepts the person in charge in the 1950s, who is now dead, was responsible for abuse on the same scale as Fr Smyth over a 20-year period. The brother was never reported to police or interviewed.

The inquiry also heard another brother admitted allegations and left the order, while another member of the congregation was moved from the home in 1972 because of claims of sex abuse.

Two individuals were convicted in the late 1970s when boys complained to social workers.

The De La Salle order has paid out almost ?390,000 in compensation to complainants in civil cases.

Previous hearings have looked at the Sisters of Nazareth homes in Londonderry and allegations surrounding child migration from NI to Australia.

The inquiry, which got underway in January, is taking place at Banbridge Courthouse in Co Down.

It was set up by the Executive to examine abuse claims in local care homes from 1922 to 1995. The inquiry team is due to report to the Executive by the start of 2016.