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  Nuns Were Unwilling or Unable to Believe Children Who Were Abused - Report

Kilkenny People
May 29, 2009

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/Nuns-were-unwilling-or-unable.5303826.jp

ONE of the worst child abusers in the history of the State was given a reference for a job by the head nun at St Joseph's orphanage in Kilkenny, despite being told he had been "at" children and despite having personal reservations about the paedophile who served a 10- year jail sentence for sex abuse.

David Murray was only investigated in 1995 by a Garda Sergeant, stationed at Kilkenny Garda Station. He began an investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at St Joseph's School in Kilkenny.

In the course of his enquiries, he heard allegations of severe sexual abuse, including buggery, and of physical abuse by David Murray and Myles Brady who had been employed at St Joseph's during the 1970s. The first of these allegations involved David Murray, who was employed in St Joseph's from 1972 until 1976, when he was summarily removed by the Resident Manager following complaints by boys.

Sr Conception, who was in charge of St Joseph's, has no recollection of being told of abuse claims even though she had a meeting with part-time worker and a number of boys about what Murray was doing to them.

It gets worse. She gave this deviant who destroyed hundreds of lives a reference for a job after she had fired him and never mentioned about her concerns or the complaints about Murray.

In the form for the reference for another children's institution, when filling it in she did not indicate any difficulty with Murray, in spite of the clear invitation to express any reservations she might have.

She said in evidence to the commission on child abuse: "I suppose one thing I wasn't good at writing letters myself, but I don't know why I wrote such a short note; that I didn't say he wasn't satisfactory."

She said that she would have said on the telephone that she would not have had David Murray back in St Joseph's: "I did. I had told him on the phone, you see, that was the trouble. They rang me up, you know, for a reference... Well, the information I gave on the telephone, that I wouldn'temploy, re-admit David Murray or that I wouldn't have him."

She went on to say: "I remember getting phone calls from different places where David Murray applied when he left St Joseph's. I know the only answer I ever gave was 'I wouldn't have David Murray back in St Joseph's' or I wouldn't reply."

Sr Conception confirmed that she did not think David Murray was suitable to work with children because she believed that he was severe with them.

The report by the commission said:

•The account of a meeting by an unnamed person with Sr Conception and Murray's account of his departure are consistent with an allegation of sexual abuse;

•Had Mr Murray's behaviour been identified and acknowledged, other children would have been spared abuse and suffering; and

• Having dismissed David Murray, Sr Conception should not have given him a reference foranother job that would bring him into contact with children.

After getting rid of Murray, she employed another paedophile - Myles Brady.

Myles Brady was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison at Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court on June 9, 1998.

He died in prison in 1999 before the hearings into St Joseph's took place.

The report concluded: Sr Conception eventually removed two paedophile lay workers after complaints were made to her about them. However, she did not face up to what had happened to the children.

She failed in her duty to provide accurate information to other bodies and thereby exposed other children to the risk of abuse.

Sr Conception always denied any knowledge of paedophiles working in St Joseph's while she was in charge.

Yet in 1977 she went to Dublin to confront child abuser Myles Brady, who sexually assaulted young children in St Joseph's.

This was five months after a complaint was made to former Bishop Birch and Sr Conception.

The confrontation led to the dismissal of Brady following an assault on a 12-year-old boy in St Joseph's a few days earlier.

An earlier case before Sr Conception was in charge is also mentioned in the report. A lay worker at the orphanage who sexually abused little girls in St Joseph's, avoided a prosecution after the Department of Education failed to report the abuse to the gardai.

And the commission into sexual abuse in Ireland found that the Sisters of Charity at the orphanage who investigated the sexual behaviour among the girls and identified those involved did not take the next step of asking why this behaviour had happened.

The abuser had been employed in St Joseph's for 30 years before his activities were revealed, but the 1954 episode was treated as a single episode, and the full extent of the sexual abuse of the children was not established and no attempt was made to do so.

Notwithstanding the more progressive attitude the Sisters had towards childcare, they were still unable or unwilling to believe the child who complained about the abuser.

A consultant uncovered the serious sexual abuse going on in St Joseph's by listening to the children.

Children blamed

According to the report: "The attitude of the Sisters of Charity appeared to be to blame the children for having been abused by the abuser and they sought to have them transferred away from the Institution. No lessons were learned from this incident.

"The risk that unsupervised access posed to the children, particularly by male employees, was never acknowledged or addressed.

"No procedures were put in place and no warnings given to staff about listening to children who complained of sexual abuse. This was to have serious consequences less than 20 years later, when two dangerous sexual abusers were employed in the School.

"Notwithstanding the favourable evidence about this Institution, children were severely physically punished and treated unsympathetically by some of the care staff, which continued into later years.

"Even when complaints were made, no action was taken by management to protect the children.

"Differential treatment between the units is a major criticism of the Institution. The quality of care depended on which unit the child was placed in.

The blue unit was run by Sr Conception, the Resident Manager, and the girls in it received the most favourable treatment, according to the evidence. This Sister was very kind and there was little or no corporal punishment, and the girls in her group considered themselves, and were considered, to be the lucky ones.

"No lessons were learned from the first major paedophile case involving a lay worker at the orphanage and no proper system of record keeping or monitoring was introduced. The Sisters of Charity did not address the serious implications of this case. The apology referred only to the two convicted abusers and, even then, no Congregat-ional responsibility was acknowledged.

"Sr Conception eventually removed two paedophile lay workers after complaints were made to her about them. However, she did not face up to what had happened to the children.

"She failed in her duty to provide accurate information to other bodies and therebyexposed other children to the risk of abuse."

He died in prison in 1999 before the hearings into St Joseph's took place.

The report concluded: Sr Conception eventually removed two paedophile lay workers after complaints were made to her about them. However, she did not face up to what had happened to the children.

She failed in her duty to provide accurate information to other bodies and thereby exposed other children to the risk of abuse.

Sr Conception always denied any knowledge of paedophiles working in St Joseph's while she was in charge.

Yet in 1977 she went to Dublin to confront child abuser Myles Brady, who sexually assaulted young children in St Joseph's.

This was five months after a complaint was made to former Bishop Birch and Sr Conception.

The confrontation led to the dismissal of Brady following an assault on a 12-year-old boy in St Joseph's a few days earlier.

An earlier case before Sr Conception was in charge is also mentioned in the report. A lay worker at the orphanage who sexually abused little girls in St Joseph's, avoided a prosecution after the Department of Education failed to report the abuse to the gardai. And the commission into sexual abuse in Ireland found that the Sisters of Charity at the orphanage who investigated the sexual behaviour among the girls and identified those involved did not take the next step of asking why this behaviour had happened.

The abuser had been employed in St Joseph's for 30 years before his activities were revealed, but the 1954 episode was treated as a single episode, and the full extent of the sexual abuse of the children was not established and no attempt was made to do so.

Notwithstanding the more progressive attitude the Sisters had towards childcare, they were still unable or unwilling to believe the child who complained about the abuser.

A consultant uncovered the serious sexual abuse going on in St Joseph's by listening to the children.

Children blamed

According to the report: "The attitude of the Sisters of Charity appeared to be to blame the children for having been abused by the abuser and they sought to have them transferred away from the Institution. No lessons were learned from this incident.

"The risk that unsupervised access posed to the children, particularly by male employees, was never acknowledged or addressed.

"No procedures were put in place and no warnings given to staff about listening to children who complained of sexual abuse. This was to have serious consequences less than 20 years later, when two dangerous sexual abusers were employed in the School.

"Notwithstanding the favourable evidence about this Institution, children were severely physically punished and treated unsympathetically by some of the care staff, which continued into later years.

"Even when complaints were made, no action was taken by management to protect the children.

"Differential treatment between the units is a major criticism of the Institution.

The quality of care depended on which unit the child was placed in. The blue unit was run by Sr Conception, the Resident Manager, and the girls in it received the most favourable treatment, according to the evidence. This Sister was very kind and there was little or no corporal punishment, and the girls in her group considered themselves, and were considered, to be the lucky ones.

"No lessons were learned from the first major paedophile case involving a lay worker at the orphanage and no proper system of record keeping or monitoring was introduced. The Sisters of Charity did not address the serious implications of this case. The apology referred only to the two convicted abusers and, even then, no Congregat-ional responsibility was acknowledged.

"Sr Conception eventually removed two paedophile lay workers after complaints were made to her about them. However, she did not face up to what had happened to the children.

"She failed in her duty to provide accurate information to other bodies and therebyexposed other children to the risk of abuse."

 
 

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