Man awarded €120,000 over sexual abuse by teacher in 1960s

The High Court has awarded €120,000 to a man after finding his life was in effect ruined when he was sexually abused by a teacher in school in the 1960s.

The man, who is in his 60s, told the court the teacher carried out the assaults on a number of occasions when he was in fifth and sixth classes at primary school.

The abuse involved the boy being called up to the teacher’s desk, while other pupils in the all-boys school were told to put their heads down on their desks, and the teacher putting his hand down the boy’s trousers.

He hurt the boy on a number of occasions and subjected him to physical and sexual assaults and verbal abuse.

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Mr Justice Mícheál O’Higgins said the defendant had “effectively ruined” the man’s childhood.

The abuse threw the boy’s life off course and was made worse by the fact that he could not turn to his father with whom he was not on good terms, he said.

For a large part of his life he was unable to tell anyone about the abuse and effectively “bottled up this secret”, which came to a head after he learned the teacher was still alive, the judge said.

Among the effects on him was that he became protective towards his own three children and joined parent groups and committees concerning activities his children were involved in.

He also became obsessed with cleanliness and the trauma affected his intimate relations with his wife, the judge said.

The abuse caused him to develop depression and post-traumatic stress particularly after he suffered two accidents in which he injured his back, he said. It also led to suicidal thoughts.

It also caused him to lack the necessary capacity to take steps towards undergoing therapy and taking medication to help towards recovery, he said.

Given his age, he is unlikely to return to work but he was musically talented and a skilled mathematician with an impressive work history, the judge said. This showed much of his potential remains untapped within him and he will hopefully find the strength to tap it and prosper, he said.

He had illogically blamed himself for not reporting the abuse to the authorities, the judge said.

It seemed that when giving evidence the man felt guilty for not telling anyone what happened but it was important to stress that he was in no way to blame for what happened to him, he said.

He was the victim of a perpetrator who abused his position of trust as a teacher and availed of it to abuse a pupil in his care, he said.

The court had given judgment in default of defence against the defendant earlier this year. This decision was communicated to the defendant’s lawyers and he was notified of the assessment of damages date.

Mr Justice O’Higgins said the case proceeded in the defendant’s absence and, after hearing from the plaintiff and his medical experts, the judge said he would give judgment later on Thursday.

However, when the case returned, the court was informed the defendant had turned up after the case had been assigned to a court on Wednesday. He had left an email address.

The judge directed the registrar to contact him by email to tell him he could appear before the court on Thursday and when he did not respond to that, the judge ordered that he be sent another email to tell him he could do so on Friday.

When he failed to turn up on Friday, the judge went ahead with giving his judgment.

As well as awarding €120,000 in general damages, he awarded the plaintiff his costs.