Greenock Man's Disgust at Payout after Alleged Abuse by Paedophile Priests
Greenock Telegraph
Gerry McLaughlin, now 61, waived his right to anonymity to speak to the Telegraph about his disgust at the settlement — which came with no admission of the suffering he says he had to endure. He was taken from his family home in West Stewart Street by a holy order called the Verona Fathers to a seminary school in Yorkshire where he planned to study for the priesthood himself. Another four boys — three from Greenock and one from Port Glasgow — were among the intake from the local area to the order’s St Peter’s Mirfield institution 50 years ago. But Gerry told how the abuse by two churchmen — Fr John Pinkman and Fr Domenico Valmaggia — began within days of his arrival there. Gerry — who now lives in Ireland — told how Valmaggia locked him in the school’s infirmary and tried to ‘cure’ him of a groin injury by rubbing his private parts. He said: “I was hurt playing football and Fr Pinkman told me to go up to bed. He walked in on me minutes later and I was surprised because he had been refereeing the game. “He, with no medical qualifications whatsoever, wanted to ‘examine’ my groin. I refused — I kept refusing but I was fearful. “Then he suddenly asked, ‘Has Fr Valmaggia weighed you yet?’” Gerry says he was then ordered to the infirmary, where Valmaggia told him that the only way for him to get better was for the priest to rub coal tar into his genitals ‘two or three times a day’. He said: “He used to lock the infirmary door before he started. Some of the times he seemed to be fighting himself, and once he even stopped suddenly.” But Gerry told how he was to remain in the infirmary for eight long days, being abused several times a day, until he was ‘cured’. He said: “It was only last year that I found out that my best friend from my time there had also been abused by Pinkman, and that quite a few others I knew had been abused by one or both. “It was rife.” Gerry is among 10 men who have settled out of court with the Verona Fathers, also known as the Comboni Missionaries. At least two more cases are pending and many corroborating statements have been given to lawyers. But despite the payouts so far, there has been no admission of wrongdoing. Gerry told how Pinkman — who had been put in charge of all the junior boys at Mirfield — tried to prey on him shortly after he had been enrolled at the seminary. He said: “Fr Pinkman told me I had to take a cold shower alone in the basement every morning at 6.40am. “He came down and opened the shower curtain and started talking to me. “There was something in his demeanour that was disturbing as he stood there rubbing his hands. “He wanted to soap me down with the sponge but I refused, which was quite brave as I was 11, naked and he was in total charge of me.” Gerry added: “Pinkman used to open the shower curtains to look at the youngsters naked in the shower and offer to soap them down. “He would bring boys to his room and explain the facts of life to them, making some of them take off their clothes so that he could ‘explain’ better. “He went further with others. “The boys went to see Valmaggia if they felt ill. He would keep them in the infirmary for days on end, abusing them several times a day.” A solicitor with the Catholic Church Insurance Association, acting for the Verona Fathers in the legal matters, said of the payouts: “The claims were made purely on a commercial basis with no admission of liability.” The lawyer added: “As the allegations related to matters alleged to have occurred around 50 years ago and the Verona Fathers were unable to identify their insurers from that period, having received legal advice, they decided to explore whether an early negotiated settlement of the claims may be possible in order to keep legal costs to a minimum. “All the claims were settled on a purely commercial basis and with no admission of liability in 2014, with damages across the 10 claims totalling ?90,000.” The Verona Fathers said in a statement: “Considering the numbers of boys who were educated at St Peter’s, the Verona Fathers absolutely do not accept that claims from 12 individuals demonstrate a culture of abuse at the seminary. “There are priests who are currently members of the Verona Fathers who were at St Peter’s in the 1960s and 1970s and who never witnessed or heard of any abuse.” The order’s current head, Fr Martin Devenish, said: “We know that anyone subjected to abusive behaviour will experience suffering and we are dismayed to think such suffering may have been caused to youngsters who attended our junior seminary. “If that is the case, we are deeply sorry to anyone who has been hurt in this way and our thoughts and prayers are with them.” Valmaggia and Pinkman were removed in the late-1960s when a number of boys united to give evidence — but they were never reported to the police. Instead they were quietly moved away — Pinkman to South Africa, where he died of a heart attack in 1984 at the age of 48, and Valmaggia to Italy, where he died at 94 in 2011. Gerry — who went on to get married and have two children — said: “Of the Greenock and Port Glasgow boys who went to Mirfield with me I know that one is now dead from alcohol abuse. “The others are far flung — I live in Ireland and I know of another man who now lives in the United States.” Gerry is dismayed that no admission has been forthcoming about the abuse he claims he suffered, irrespective of the settlement he received. He said: “I didn’t know at the time that I was being abused. “I got ?8,000, which is a pittance — a paltry amount. “We didn’t do it for the money, though. We wanted an admission that it took place — and it looks like we will never get that. “I take nothing to do with the Catholic Church any more — I haven’t done for decades.”
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.