Court asked to assess damages for man who says he was groped by school teacher

The High Court has been asked to assess damages in a case brought by a man who says his schoolteacher groped him during class on a number of occasions.

The man, who is in his 60s, claims the teacher carried out the assaults around 1967 and the abuse involved putting the teacher putting his hand down his trousers and feeling his genitals. On one occasion, the teacher tried to put a finger in his anus but stopped after the boy started to struggle.

There was no appearance in court by the teacher and the assessment of damages hearing went ahead in his absence.

The court heard that for most of his life the man blocked out memories of the abuse and successfully got on with his life and told nobody about it.

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When he had children of his own, he said he became obsessed about protecting them from abuse and got involved in organising the various pursuits they took part in.

David McGrath SC, with David Burke BL, for the man, said he was about 10-years-old when the abuse took place. The teacher had a way of calling boys up to the front of the class and the other pupils were told to put their heads down on their desks.

The man, as a child, had difficulties reading, and the teacher told him to come up to him at his desk. Counsel said he found himself between the teacher’s legs with one of his arms around the boy and the other down his trousers. He recollected it happened between 10 and 20 times.

The man told the court he dealt with the abuse while it was going on by staring out a window of the classroom and concentrating on a crane on the skyline.

“I lost my religion because I prayed and prayed to God to get me out of this situation. So the crane became my God and the crane became my pain”, he said.

He did not say anything to anyone and believed he could not tell his father “because I knew my dad would be in jail for murder because, as bad as he [his father] was, I know he would not tolerate that”.

The man had two accidents in which he suffered back injuries and which left him in chronic pain. It was during treatment for this back pain that he first revealed to a doctor he had been abused.

Later, he learned the teacher was still alive and he had a complete mental breakdown, counsel said. This resulted in suicidal thoughts for which he is still receiving counselling.

He said his reason for coming to court was so the teacher could see the pain he brought affected not just him but the man’s whole family, into the next generation.

Mr Justice Michael O’Higgins adjourned the case to Thursday to hear evidence from the man’s doctors.