'His only remorse is at being caught'

VICTIM STATEMENTS: ONE OF Michael Ferry’s victims asked why he was not stopped after he was prosecuted nine years ago

VICTIM STATEMENTS:ONE OF Michael Ferry's victims asked why he was not stopped after he was prosecuted nine years ago. Derek Mulligan, who waived his right to anonymity, read a statement outside the court describing Ferry as a "demon".

“He has no remorse whatsoever for what he has done. His only remorse is at being caught,” Mr Mulligan said. “I believe someone so sick and perverted could never change.”

“Why wasn’t he stopped before this when he was brought before the courts in 2002? Why did his employers still employ him?”

An emotional Mr Mulligan also urged other victims of abuse to come forward to “end your own nightmare”. He said it was only when he came forward “that my nightmare ended”. The abuse “ruins your life and everything in your life. You lose your childhood and then the more you try to bury it, it eats away at you bit by bit. It even haunts your dreams. It wasn’t until I came forward that my nightmare ended.”

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Earlier in court, victim impact statements of the four men who had been abused as children were read. One man said Ferry took away his soul after he “groomed me as a 12-year-old boy until he had me where he wanted me”.

“My mother lost her child, my father lost his son. I lay there crying as he whispered in my ear the words ‘don’t worry, it will be over soon’, ” he said.

He made four suicide attempts as a teenager. The only person he could have told was his father, but he died when he was younger. He turned to drink and drugs. The abuse had taken over his life but he said it was over now. “Now my life can begin.”

In his impact statement, another of the victims said the abuse took his innocence away and he turned to drugs. He said he wanted to die. He just could not understand how anyone could abuse a child like that. He was hoping that he could now get on with his life “as best as I can”.

The third man said the abuse was “like being pounced upon by a wild animal who overpowered me”. He felt like he lost part of his soul and he has since felt vulnerable at various stages of his life.

The fourth man said he blamed himself for the abuse and felt guilty for accepting what Ferry had given him. He now has a child of his own of whom he is very protective. His wife told him he was distant with their daughter and added the little girl told her mother: “Daddy doesn’t give tight hugs.”