Hia Hears Conflicting Reports about School

UTV
September 7, 2015

http://www.u.tv/News/2015/09/07/HIA-hears-conflicting-reports-about-school-44509

The first witness who gave evidence about the college, was sent there in the 1960s.

The witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the HIA inquiry on Monday a number of De La Salle brothers were very violent and said he was terrified of them.

Once, he said, a brother hit him on the head with a bunch of keys for no reason – and he could not hear properly for a week.

He detailed how on another occasion a brother accused him wrongly of being late home and he had to sleep on the springs of his bed, naked and without a cover or mattress.

The witness also described how he was raped and sexually abused by some of the brothers both in the training school, at a holiday home in Glenariff and at the cinema.

He said he would never have dreamed of telling his parents as they would have thought he was telling lies and “in all likelihood would have given me a clip on my ear”.

The witness added: “If this inquiry did not exists I would have taken the details of what happened to me to my grave”.

Ten minutes later another witness took the stand but he painted a completely different picture.

While accepting punishments were administered in the school they were not, he believed, excessive.

The inquiry heard he was not afraid of the brothers. He said he did what he was told and respected them.

The witness told the inquiry that when he heard what he described as "these vile accusations against these men, I was stunned”.

“I spent three years under their roof, I played sport with them, I watched TV with them, I dined with them, I prayed with them,” he said.

“How can I even begin to repay them for their guidance and the foundation they established in my life?”

A third witness however characterised the training school as place where he alleges he was both physically and sexually abused.

“I know what I am saying is true,” he declared.

“I can sleep easy in my bed at night knowing I have finally spoken out and told the truth,” he said.