Alleged sexual assault victim criticises Order of Malta’s handling of complaint

A young man has criticised the Order of Malta over how the first-aid organisation responded to a complaint he made after he was allegedly sexually assaulted by another volunteer as an 18-year-old.

As a teenager growing up in State care, Justin Kelly from Co Longford said he had previously credited the Order of Malta with "saving" his life.

He had joined the voluntary organisation’s ambulance corps when he was 16, at a time when he had left school and was at a difficult point in his life.

Mr Kelly, now 25, said he had been devoted to the voluntary work and “never” missed training or a first-aid duty for many years.

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The support he received in the organisation helped him return to secondary school to complete his Leaving Certificate and motivated him to enter a career in healthcare.

In recent years that sense of belonging had been replaced by a feeling of “hurt, pain and suffering” over the way in which the organisation handled a complaint he made after he was allegedly sexually assaulted.

When he was 18, Mr Kelly alleged he had been sexually assaulted by an older male volunteer on an overseas trip with the organisation to Lourdes, France in May 2015.

The alleged perpetrator, Scott Browne (31) from Co Kildare, was later convicted in 2020 over the sexual abuse of two 15-year-old boys in separate incidents in 2018.

Browne was sentenced to 11 years with 18 months suspended after pleading guilty to the oral rape of one boy at a location in Co Laois on May 7th, 2018, and the sexual assault of another teenager two weeks later at locations in Dublin and the Wicklow mountains.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Kelly alleged Browne sexually assaulted him after following him into his hotel room. He said he “froze” during the incident, before pushing the volunteer away.

He later “broke down” in the airport on the journey back to Ireland and disclosed what had happened to an officer, before making a formal complaint to the organisation later that month.

Mr Kelly said a senior volunteer was appointed to examine his allegation, but after a number of weeks he was told the ambulance corps was unable to take any action. He said he was advised against reporting the alleged incident to An Garda Síochána, as it had happened abroad.

Browne remained in the organisation and it is understood was only removed after it emerged he had been charged by gardaí over the sexual abuse of two 15-year-olds in 2018.

Last year Mr Kelly wrote to Peadar Ward, then-chief executive of the Order of Malta, criticising how his complaint had been handled in 2015.

The young man said he had been consumed by “guilt” that he should have done more to prevent Browne abusing others.

His letter, seen by The Irish Times, said that he felt his complaint had been “dismissed” by the organisation.

The lack of support from the organisation and the feeling of not being believed had “destroyed” his life, he said.

Mr Kelly said the fallout and trauma from the incident later led him to emigrate and he currently lives abroad. “The Order of Malta was my life… I don’t have that now,” he told The Irish Times.

The organisation’s board, known as the council, met on Wednesday and agreed to commission an internal investigation into safeguarding standards. There is significant concern internally in the organisation over how the 2015 complaint was handled and the internal inquiry is expected to examine the matter, a source said.

In a statement to members on Wednesday, the organisation’s president Richard Duc de Stacpoole confirmed a review would be carried out to identify “any new or improved safeguarding practices” above those in place.

The work would “identify any immediate and future potential risks and vulnerabilities”, as well as provide “limitation of damage to the reputation and integrity of our ambulance corps,” he said.

The investigation is to be undertaken by Mr Ward and the current chief executive John Byrne.