NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 06 OCTOBER 2014
One of the first boys to enter a children’s home in Northern Ireland has said he was abused by a religious brother the day after he arrived.
He claimed he was interfered with while having a shower at Rubane House, Co Down, in 1951, under the guise of “horse play”.
Once he went missing, he told a public inquiry, was brought home by police, beaten by members of the Catholic order which ran the home and had his hair shaved off in what he claimed was an act of humiliation.
He said: “It was just hell on earth.”
The witness’s evidence was that the abuse started the day after he arrived at Rubane and left him feeling extremely uncomfortable. He criticised some of the brothers.
“They did come into the dorms. It did not appear that they came in to check if someone wanted to go to the toilet, it was always something of a sexual nature.”
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